CHAPTER XVI

THE PERILS OF THE WILDERNESS

"I WONDER if he saw us?" Roger was saying, some days after the buffalo stampede.

The boys were thinking of halting for the night, and the western sky had taken on all the wonderful rosy tints at which even these frontier boys would gaze with something akin to awe.

"I hope not," his companion returned, with a troubled look on his sunburned face; "because that might mean new perils before morning. Up to now we've been so lucky about escaping any sort of fight with the wandering Indians that I keep hoping we may get through, and join the expedition, without any annoyance."

"But it _was_ a redskin, all right, Dick; both of us saw him plain enough to be very sure of that," Roger went on.

"Oh! yes, I grant that," was Dick's answer; "but he wasn't in evidence on that little rise more than a few minutes. We kept our horses standing still all the time, in the hope that he might not notice us. He shaded his eyes with his hand, because he was looking into the west, and that light must have partly blinded him. I only hope it was strong enough to make him miss seeing us here."

"Are we going on now?" queried the other, impatiently.

"That's the only thing left to us, Roger. By sticking close to the foot of the rise, where there are some trees to give us shelter, we may escape being seen. But no galloping for us now; just let the horses walk until the dusk comes down on us. Then we'll make camp, somehow."

"How lucky that I cooked enough of that meat at noon to last another meal. That was a time when I had my head about me, eh, Dick?" the other asked.

"It looks that way, because we must light no fire if there's a hunting party of hostile Indians around here," Dick decided.

They let the tired animals walk, keeping to the edge of the little hill beyond which, though at some little distance, lay the river.

Roger, grown very suspicious now, turned in his saddle many times to glance in all directions. He thought more than once that he saw a crouching Indian behind some tree or bush, and his gun almost involuntarily started to leap to his shoulder. But in every case it turned out to be some deceptive shadow, and Roger was the first one to laugh at his own silly fears.

Gradually the glorious red tints died out of the western heavens; and with their passing came the troops of skirmishing shadows that told of the night.

Dick had meanwhile kept on the alert, not only to discover any lurking foe, but at the same time find a suitable spot where they could make their camp.

When he located a place that seemed to promise them fair shelter, and at the same time a feeding spot for their horses, he drew rein.

"We might as well pull up here, and settle down for the night, Roger," he announced.

So they proceeded to stake the horses out, making their own arrangements so as to be very close to the feeding animals. The grass was sweet and plentiful, and, as the horses were hungry, they started cropping it without delay, glad to be relieved from their burdens, for the day had been a hot one.

"Perhaps," said Roger, as they started to arrange things so as to have at least some sort of comfort, "it might be wise not to undo most of our packages, since we don't mean to make a fire."

"I was just going to say that myself," the other rejoined. "Then, if we wanted to get away from here in a hurry, we'd be in condition to do so."

"Then you still have a little idea we were seen by that lone brave, Dick; and that he may bring the rest of the hunting party down on us to-night?"

"It seems to strike me that way; and so we must keep a better watch even than usual to-night," Dick observed, as he accepted some of the food his comrade took out of a package, and started to munch at it with that contentment the boys of those days learned to exhibit.

"We've been so lucky all these weeks, while following after the expedition, not to meet a single enemy face to face--unless you'd count that half-breed. If he was with François Lascelles we must have given them the slip nicely, don't you think, Dick?"

"It looks that way," Dick answered, between bites. "Pass me the old canteen that we filled with water at that fine spring late this afternoon, and I'll wash down this dry meat. We've been delayed so many times now that the summer is passing away; and, after all, it begins to look as if we might come up with Captain Lewis just when he's thinking of stopping over to pass the winter. You know we heard him say he felt sure he'd have to do that somewhere short of the big mountains the Indians tell such strange stories about, when bringing in their pelts to the trading posts."

"But no matter, we're bound to keep on, if it takes us all the way to the ocean--I've heard you say that more than once, Dick, and I know you meant it, too."

"Yes, I'm just as determined as when we started out to overtake the expedition, and have that paper signed by Jasper Williams. Every time I shut my eyes when trying to go to sleep I can see my father's troubled face, and how well do I remember discovering the tears in mother's eyes as she looked around the little home, for I know she was thinking how it would break her heart to have to give it up now."

"It must never happen, Dick. After coming this far we _must_ succeed, and save the homes of our parents for them. I am twice as set on that as when we first started out. Think of all we've gone through; and yet it seems as if the Good Captain above must be watching over us, to keep all harm from overtaking us. Yes, we are going to succeed, if pluck and love can pull us through!"

In this manner the two boys buoyed up each other's courage. Nor was it at all strange that there arose now and then some necessity for such a thing. The task which they had set for themselves might have well given grown men, experienced forest rangers, cause for hesitation and doubt. The hidden perils of this unknown country had been the subject of campfire talk ever since the lads knew anything; and unconsciously their young minds had been impressed with the idea that many kinds of fierce animals inhabited the country far beyond the Mississippi, in the Land of the Setting Sun. And then there were numerous tribes of warlike Indians roving over the plains, and through the forests in uncounted numbers, and great beasts, the like of which the eyes of hunters had never before seen, having their homes among the sky-piercing mountains lying like a barrier far toward the distant ocean.

The darkness closed in even as they ate their frugal meal and conversed in low whispers. Roger was more than ever on the alert. The many little sounds of the night caused him to listen, and try to determine whether the shrill cry of the cricket, or the monotonous call of the katydid were genuine, or some signal of creeping enemies.

When a whippoorwill suddenly gave out his loud notes from a neighboring tree, the nervous Roger started as if he had been shot, and even thrust forward a hand, as though ready to snatch up his gun.

When finally they had finished eating, Dick seemed to have made up his mind to something that had been worrying him.

"Listen to me, Roger," he said, impressively; "I was just thinking of what old Pat O'Mara told us once, of when he was in a dangerous land, and feared that the Indians might know of his camp. You remember he changed his location as soon as darkness covered his movements. And he was glad he'd done so, because, later on in that same night, he heard shots and yells in the quarter where he had been; and knew that the redskins were pouncing on the dummy figure he had left beside a little fire. We must do the same thing now. I wouldn't sleep easily unless we made a move."

"Just as you say, Dick; you're the chief of the expedition, you know. But do you really think that Indian saw us, and perhaps followed us?"

"I seem to have an idea that way," replied the other; "several times I thought, when I turned my head and looked back, that I saw a branch fall into place, just as if some one might be watching us from behind the green covert. And once I even believed I saw a shadowy figure flit from tree to tree. No matter if it is a false alarm, Roger; it is better to be on the safe side, as father says."

"All right, whenever you say the word we'll make the move," Roger returned, "and how fortunate that we didn't undo our stuff any more than we had to, in getting the blankets out. Shall I bring the horses in now, Dick, so we can load up?"

"Yes, it is pitch dark, and we can creep on without any one seeing us, Roger. Besides, if that red spy did follow at our heels, as soon as he saw that we meant to make camp here he must have marked the spot well in his mind, and then slipped off to hunt up the rest of the party. Perhaps they may be miles away, and it would take him hours to find them."

Roger soon had the horses ready. Then the tired boys started off. They did not venture to mount, but walked ahead of their animals, leading them. This was on account of the darkness, which was so intense that neither could see more than ten feet ahead; and even at that distance the trees bordering the little rise looked dim and uncanny, as though they might be ghosts----at least, that was the way they appeared to the imagination of Roger.

For half an hour they walked along in this fashion, sometimes stumbling over obstacles they could not see, but making steady progress all the while.

"I think we have come far enough, now," remarked Dick, finally, as he stopped in his tracks.

"Oh! I'm glad to hear you say that!" exclaimed the other, with a long drawn sigh, for he was very tired after that hot day's journey.

They soon had the horses staked out again, close at hand. Neither of the boys expected to get very much sleep that night, for there seemed to be some strange foreboding in the atmosphere, that affected them.

As they had done on many another occasion, the boys divided the night into watches, each taking turn and turn about in keeping awake.

It was a moonless night, though the stars were bright enough. After a warm day, the myriads of insects seemed to be unusually noisy, and kept up a chorus that was soothing, rather than irritating, to the senses of Dick Armstrong, as he sat with his back braced against the trunk of a small tree.

Roger was sound asleep alongside; and, sitting there, Dick could hear the constant cropping of the horses as they continued to make a supper from the grass that grew in the open spaces, and still preserved its sweetness, despite the lateness of the season.

Now and again some distant sound would cause him to raise his head to listen; it might be the weird howl of a prairie wolf, the strange cry of a coyote, a new animal to both boys; or the hoot of an owl perched in some dead tree, and signaling to its mate.

But the night wore on, without anything out of the ordinary occurring, and Dick even began to imagine that his fears must have been groundless. Still, he could not regret having taken precautions; for it paid to be on the safe side always.

Then he suddenly sat upright. His manner indicated that his quick ears had caught some sound, however trifling, that seemed out of the common, and therefore, under the circumstances, suspicious.

It was as if a stone had been dislodged somewhere up on the little ridge, and in rattling down the side, caused a small avalanche. Still, a roving animal might have been the cause.

Dick turned his eyes upward. The top of the ridge happened to be devoid of undergrowth, and was sharply outlined against the starry heavens. One of the greatest of the planets was just about to set, and hovered above the ridge, as if on the point of sending out the last flickering gleam before dropping from sight.

Even as the boy sat there and looked, he saw something pass before this bright star. It was erect, and on two feet, therefore not an animal; moreover, Dick had seen the flutter of feathers crowning the scalp-lock, and he knew that it must be an Indian brave.

Another, and still another flitted past, until the startled lad had counted fully seventeen of the noiseless figures. Then he knew that they were heading toward the very spot where he and Roger had first intended spending the night, proving that the spy, after locating them, had indeed hurried away to summon his red companions.