CHAPTER XVII

A CLOSE CALL

DICK almost held his breath until the last dark figure had flitted past. His greatest fear had been that in some manner the keen ears of the Indians might detect the presence of horses down near the foot of the elevation along which they were making their way.

Dick waited a full minute after seeing the party vanish before making a move. He wished to be sure there were no stragglers lingering behind. And when this seemed a certainty he put out his hand, and gently shook his comrade.

"'Sh!"

Roger, starting up, heard this warning sound, and felt a thrill. He groped around until he had laid hands on his gun, placed close beside him when lying down to sleep.

"What is it, Dick?" he whispered, placing his lips close to the other's ear.

"Danger! We must get out of this right away," replied the sentry, in an equally low tone.

"Indians?" asked Roger, to make sure.

"Yes. A party has just passed along the ridge. It was just our luck that they took this place to come over the hogback, Roger."

"You saw them, did you?" demanded Roger.

"I did that; and counted seventeen," replied Dick, impressively; "all stepping in each other's tracks. One must have started a stone rolling down, for its clatter made me look up. They went past like ghosts, and vanished below the rim, still heading that way."

"Ugh! you mean in the direction of our first camp, don't you, Dick? Then that lone hunter must have sighted us, even if he did pretend not to. How wise you were to change camps. Seventeen, you say; what could two boys do against that many braves? What next, Dick? I'm ready to do anything you say. Must we push on again, do you think?"

"Yes, because when they find that the birds have flown they will surely look this way for us. By that time we ought to be miles off."

They set about making the move without more delay, though not hurrying in such a manner as to invite discovery through neglect of precautions.

The poor horses no doubt thought it pretty hard that they should be made to start out afresh without even a nap; but they were patient beasts and had no way of expressing their opinions, or showing signs of mutiny at being made to work overtime.

Once again did the boys lead the animals, for the darkness was too intense to trust to keeping their eyes so far away from the ground, when there was so much necessity for their discovering the presence of logs and pitfalls before the horses stumbled. Roger, if left to himself, would possibly have climbed into his saddle, and trusted to the instinct of his animal to detect obstacles in the way, but Dick was too cautious for that.

So they plodded on. It was weary work, but the knowledge that a deadly peril lurked near inspired the boys to endure the fatigue bravely.

"You seem to be veering off to the side, Dick; we're getting farther and farther away from that ridge, back of which lies the river. What is that for?" asked Roger, after a while.

"In the first place," replied the other, always willing to explain, "when the Indians find out that we've slipped away, they are likely to scatter, and search the woods for miles, believing that they may get trace of us in that way. Then, Roger, I'm too tired to think of keeping up this walk long. I want to get in the saddle, and ride, which we can do if once we find the open country."

"Good for you, Dick; I'll be glad myself when we can mount, and coax the horses to a gait faster than a walk," Roger declared.

Several times Dick had paused. He seemed to be listening, and it was not difficult for his companion to guess why.

"Do you expect to hear them give tongue when they find the nest empty?" he asked.

"Perhaps," replied his cousin. "They will be bitterly disappointed, that goes without saying; and when they strike a light, and start to following our tracks, as I'm sure they will do, we will probably hear them. Listen, Roger. What did I tell you?"

The night wind chanced to be coming from a point almost directly back of them, so that sounds were carried on its breath. First came a long quavering cry that seemed to be filled with bitter disappointment. Then followed a series of quick, angry yelps, that made Roger think of a pack of fighting dogs.

"They know now that we've given them the slip, don't they, Dick?" chuckled Roger, whom even the recent peril did not seem to have daunted.

"They certainly do," answered the other.

"But here is what seems to be another little rise on our left, Dick," observed Roger, as what looked like a secondary ridge arose between them and the star-studded heavens.

"Yes, I've been noticing that for some little while now," Dick answered. "And I'm sure that just on the other side lies the level prairie that we want to reach soon."

"Then we must cross over that divide; is that the way, Dick?"

"When we come to a place where we can do it without exposing ourselves too much. Remember how I happened to discover the seventeen braves, Roger; though they would be too far away, perhaps, to see us crossing over. And here seems to be the right spot to make the attempt. I hope we find a trail for the horses, because they are not able to climb rocks as we can."

A short time later they were slowly but steadily passing up from the little valley that lay like a swale between the two slight ridges.

"This is all right, Dick," remarked Roger, when, after some toil, they managed to reach what seemed to be the pinnacle of the "hogback," as the border boys called such a ridge.

"Yes, and if the going down is as easy, we can thank our stars," answered Dick.

Before starting the descent he turned and looked long and earnestly in the direction whence those cries of disappointment had arisen a short time before.

"There, what did I tell you?" he exclaimed; "look yonder, Roger, and you will see something queer."

"Are they fireflies, Dick?" questioned the other; "they seem to look like it at this distance; and yet I can see that they do not come and go, but keep up a steady light."

"If you were closer, Roger, you would see that they were strange lightning-bugs; for each one is a torch gripped in the hand of a red-skinned warrior, who bends over and follows the trail we made!"

"Oh! then we didn't start away from our second camp any too soon, did we, Dick?" exclaimed the younger lad, breathlessly, as he watched the lights that really did look like flickering fireflies in the distance.

"No; and now we'd better be getting off this high ground before they come close enough to discover us," Dick remarked.

"But what is going to be the end of all this running about?" asked Roger. "Do we have to keep on the jump all night? See, the stars tell us it is even now close on midnight, for there is that other bright one just going to set. I've had two hours or more of sleep, but you haven't yet closed your eyes, Dick."

"Oh! there's time enough for that after we've left these red rascals miles behind, Roger. Once we strike the level prairie it's going to be a job urging our horses on by digging heels into their sides, much as I hate to do it. There is a limit to the distance even hardy braves can walk, following a trail by torchlight; and we'll put a lot of ground between us before we rest."

They found that it was not very difficult to pass down the other side of the slope, for their horses were sure-footed, and the way far from being impassable. And presently the bottom was gained.

Here there were a few scattered trees, that gradually the boys left behind, until presently the open prairie lay before them.

"Now to mount!" declared Dick, suiting the action to the word.

Roger was not a whit behind him in climbing into his saddle. It was no easy job doing this on account of the many bundles with which both horses were burdened, so that "climbing" would seem to cover the case very well.

When the horses were urged to start off on a gentle gallop Roger declared he felt very much like giving a whoop, to signify his delight at having so cleverly outwitted the red foe; but his cousin advised him to hold his breath.

"You know, Roger," Dick said, in his quiet but convincing way, "that old Pat O'Mara, our father's best friend, used to say an Indian had no business to crow until he was in the woods, and by the same token a white was a fool to shout till he was well out of them. And though we're over the divide, and riding on level country, we are not beyond the danger line yet. So, if you're wise, you'll bottle up that cheer until we see the expedition of Captain Lewis, boats and horses, ahead of us."

And of course Roger held his peace, for he had considerable respect for the opinions of his older companion.

They must have covered at least six or eight miles before the horses showed unwillingness to go farther without a rest. Dick then announced that they had come far enough.

And so once more, for the third time that night, the lads staked the animals out, and lay down on their blankets under the twinkling stars.

Roger insisted on his cousin taking a turn at sleeping, while he sat there and kept vigil; which Dick finally did, though a little loath to shut his eyes. However, he secured quite a few hours' nap; and then Roger awakened him, so that he might in turn get a little more sleep before the coming of another dawn warned them that it was time to proceed.

Morning found them fairly rested after their hard night, and so far as they could tell there was no sign of the Indians. Evidently the hunting party had given up all hope of overtaking the fugitives when they found that the horses had climbed the ridge and struck the level country beyond.

Another day and still others followed, during which the boys kept sturdily heading into the northwest. It seemed so strange to them that, on account of the many hindrances, they could not overtake the explorers, who were always just a few days' journey ahead of them.

Of course this was caused by the fact that the boys had frequently to make detours in order to avoid Indian villages that they discovered on the river bank; and in more than a few cases these circuits were the cause of their losing the river entirely, so that they wasted one or more days hunting for it again.

But their dogged determination to attain the object which had caused them to start on their undertaking never flagged. No matter what difficulties beset them, they would keep everlastingly at it until they had met with disaster, or else succeeded in their quest.

It was this spirit of never-say-die that made frontier boys develop into the resolute men they afterwards became; and which caused them to continually push out farther and farther into the unknown land until finally they had conquered the whole West, to transform the wilderness into one vast fertile region, where the grain to feed the nations of the world was to be grown later on; and the vast herds of long horned cattle were to graze by hundreds of thousands, taking the place of the vanishing bison.

Of course they met with many sights which were novel to their eyes, and would always remain fresh in their memories. But after all these weeks of journeying over the prairie, they were by degrees becoming quite familiar with the conditions connected with this new life; and as they became accustomed to them the boys grew more adept in accepting chances to creep up on antelope and scattered bison, so as to secure a shot and thus provide themselves with fresh meat.

On one occasion Dick had found an opportunity to try a clever expedient that he had heard spoken of by other hunters, but never before practised himself.

It happened that several antelope were feeding at some little distance from a hunch of grass in which the hunter had ensconced himself, in the hope that they would wander that way.

He had his rifle, since on that level stretch of ground it was not likely that any Indians might hear the report, or if they did, attach any special meaning to it.

Since the shy little animals did not seem to be feeding that way, Dick realized that if he hoped to get any fresh meat that day he must resort to some ruse. Having a red handkerchief with him, he conceived the idea of attempting the trick those old hunters had spoken about.

The antelope seems to have more than average curiosity, and will allow this failing to have full sway even when its instincts give warning of danger.

So Dick, fastening this red kerchief to the muzzle of his gun, waved it above the tuft of grass behind which he lay concealed.

The timid animals soon noted the strange bright object that waved in the breeze and at first started to run away; then, halting, they stared long and eagerly, by slow degrees coming back, only to turn and run again. But there seemed to be a fatal fascination in that queer red banner which they found utterly impossible to resist; and so closer and closer they drew, quivering with suspense, and apparently ready to fly if it should turn out to be an enemy, relying on the speed of their heels to carry them to safety.

But alas! they knew nothing of the "stick-that-spoke," and sent out a death-dealing pellet of lead.

Dick had watched their coming and going, and noted that each time they advanced just a little farther than before. He believed that he was going to be given the chance he craved for a shot. This pleased him, for they had been without fresh meat for three days.

Finally the young hunter believed the antelope had come close enough, and that it would be folly for him to wait any longer.

Accordingly he selected the one he thought best suited for their purpose as food, and, having disengaged the red handkerchief from the end of his rifle, so that it might not interfere with his aim, he quickly covered the body of his intended victim with the white bead that he used for an end-sight, and pulled the trigger.

At that the herd of antelope sped away like the wind; but one did not keep company with its mates, for the bullet of the hunter had laid it low.

Dick felt more or less compassion for the little animal when he saw how delicately it was fashioned, and how innocent it appeared; but then he had been a hunter ever since he could lift his father's rifle, and would not allow this feeling to have dominion over him, especially when they were in such need of fresh meat. So he was cutting up the game when Roger, who had kept the horses far away, came hurrying to the spot.