o

.u..-.o...--,--....n.

EMMY;

 

 

_ \‘

Cnpyrightwl,li~1,hy BRAD”: AND Ah.\.\l~'. lav L-ml .xl. m..- l‘nit Office A! Nrw Yurk, V. Y.. :15 Serum! Class Muil A‘IAHEP. June 6, 156.5.

7 15¢ Published Week] b Beadle and Adams 1-. ...,
X 01: Va u’yl'cuL N0. 98 ‘VHJXAMYQTH NEW YORK. I 1‘i\cllc(flltfl- NOI 60-

The Young Trail Hunters;  “W YENRZRZ‘KZ LAND.

BY ’1'. C. HARBAUGH,
AI'THOB. or “THE SNOW-TRAIL," “ THE BOY EXILES 0F SIBERIA,” 11:10., mow ETC,

WHILE THE YOUNG TRAIL HI'NTERS GAZED AT THE STONE A DARK OBJECT SLOWLY ROSE ABOVE IT,
AND PRESENTLY PRESENTED THE HEAD AND SHOULDERS OF A 816 GRIZZLY.

 

 

The Young Trail Hunters.

 

lhe Young Trail Hunters;

)

New York Boys in Grizzly Land.

A Romance of White Bufi‘alo Camp.

l BY T. GETSEBAUGH,

CHAPTER I.
m CAMP IN THE ROCKIES.

ALONG the wonderful sierras of the Rock
Mountains between the forty-second and fiftiet
degrees of North latitude, lies one of the grandest
huntinggrounds on the face of the globe.

It is that sublime region of cascade and canyon
within whose boundaries rise two magnificent
rivers, the Columbia and the Missouri, whose
waters enter the Pacific and the Gulf of
Mexico respectivoly. One river flows through
the wilds of Oregon, across the Cascade Moun-
tains, and enters the ocean almost Within the
shadow of Mount St. Hahn’s; the other, after
watering the plains and plateaus of Montana
and Dakota, courses throuvh several of our
fairest Western States, and joins the lordly
Mississippi. The head waters of these two

and streams are found deep in the heart of

he Rockies. _ .

Numerous herds of buffalo bathe in their clear
waters, and the terrible grizzly roams up a- (1
down their banks, truly the monarch of the
wild region.

Besides the buffalo and “Old Ephraim,” deer
or all kinds, the antelope, the mountain sheep,
wolves, foxes, otters, and mink inhabit this
bunting-ground, which at this day contains
trails unknown to the feet of the most adventur-
some white hunter. The crack of the half-
brced‘s rifle and the whiz of a Blackfoot’s arrow
often break the silence of a canyon, and deep
in the heart. of those boundless forests, the
grizzly has gained more than one bloody victory
over his until-mg hunters. ‘

It happened that during a certain vacation,
three young New Yorkers—Jack Roberts, Tom
Turpin and Hiram Horter—read jointly that
wonderful book which gives an account of
Lewis and Clarke’s traVels across the Rockies to
the Pacific seaboard in 1805.

We need not say that the narrative enrap—
tured them, that it filled them with a longing to
follow in the footsteps of the illustrious ex-

 

plorers, and that, at a secret meeting, the trio ,

voted unanimously to proceed at once to the
Northern Rockies.

Having proceeded thus far, they next besieged
their parents for the desired permission, for the
thought of running away did not once enter
their heads. .

As luck would have it, a private surveyin
party was about to set out for the Rockies. ans
as one of its objective points was the bead.
waters of the Missouri, the three boys brought
the golden opportunity to bear upon their pa-
rents in a manner that was not long resisted.

The expedition left New York by rail in the
latter part of August, and reached Helena.

’ Montana, the second week in September. Here
the young hunters hunted up a. man named
OliVer Pardee, but evervwhere knovvn as Yel-
lowstone Oil, a celebrated bear fighter and
Rocky Mountain guide, who had “l’arned”
under Kit Carson.

Certain letters of introduction, and the pro-

mise of good wages, secured Oil’s services, and.
fully equipped for a hunt in the, to them, tarra
I'm-o; mica of the far Northwest, the young New
Yorkers separated from the surveying party
and turned their backs on Helena and civiliza-
tion.
'They were well mounted on strong-Hulde
horses and led several ack mules which carried
their camp equipage, including many modern
utensils that brought a smile to the guide’s
bronzed face. They were armed with revol-
vers and brand-new Winchester rifles, which
Weapon was the uide’s favorite.

“ Thar’s suthin about this gun that astonishes
a grizzly,” remarked the guide, as he held
Jack’s beautiful rifle up to the gaze of all. “ I
war huntin’ once on the Y6110wstone when I
almost stumbled onto an old grizzly what war
takin’ his noonday nap in the sun. I had a gun
of this kind in my hands. After eyin’ me fur a
moment the old chap got up as much as to say,
‘ I’ll now pei-ceed to chew you up, Ye|10wstone.
That gun only shoots once, an’ I’m no lamb.’ It
war a. ticklish situaiion, boys, fur I hadn’t had
the gun long—hardly long enough to get the
hang of it. But I stood my ground, an’ as the
Mir came at me I let drive with a hasty aim
which seldom tumbles a grizzly, as you may
find out afore on get back to the States. Just
as I expected, didn’t make a deth shot. My
forty-five plowed along old Ephraim’s neck,
mashed one shoulder-blade, and maddened him.

“‘Thet’s yer last load Olll’ he seemed to
laugh, as he rose on his hind feet. “Gimin
cricketsl the next minute I opened the whole
magazine on him without takin’ the gun from
my shoulder a second. You never saw such an
astonished grizzly. I sent that smile of victory
from his face in a jiffy, for before he could any

‘ ‘Jack Robinson’ ihar war four bulls in his car.

cass, an’ be war the deadest grizzly in the ken.

try. Shoot? ' I reckon this gun kin shoot. Ag.
ter the scrape I’ve just been tellin’ on about
whenever I met a b’ar he’d turn tai an’ move
off 'ust as it he said to himself, ‘Thar comes

Oll ardee an’ his lead mine.’ It's been a 10::

time since I’ve been thar, though, an’Ig'uesa

the grizzlies have forgotten me.” _

The guide’s story amused and interested the
boys, and rendered them more than ever eager
to reach the hunting-grounds.

“ What did that bear weigh, 011?” asked Tom.

“Nigh onto seven hundred, I guess; but he
, war a. baby to some I’ve seen along the Medi-
'cine, an’ we’re goin’ to camp on that very

stream. Why, everything’s big in that kentry.
Natur’ put in her best licks thar. You’ve heard
about white deer an’ white buflier?”

“ Yes, but—”

“ They’re thar, I guess,” intermde theguide.

l “I don’t say that I’ve seen ’em, mind that,

' boys; but you don't find many liars among the

, Blackfeet, an’ I’ve heard some wonderful stories

l from the red-skim.” »

 

  
  

The Young Trail Hunters.

 

 

“ Ah! if we could but carry back with us a
white robe!” exclaimed Jack enthusiastically,
his eyes kindling at the thought.

“ It would be grand, indeed 1” put in Hiram;
“ but I have read somewhere that white bufl’a—

loss are so cred animals to the Indians. How is
that. Oil?”
“ I guess they are,” was the reply. “ But as

we’re not likely to see one, we needn’t discuss
the matter now.”

“That’s so, sir,” said Jack; “butI want all
to understand now that the sacredness of a
white bufl'alo is not going to save it from my
rifle if I can get within range. I’m not going
to let such a prize slip through my fingers just
because a lot of Indians are tainted with super-
stition.”

“We'll cross the river when we come to it,
not before, Jack,” said Tom, with a laugh for
his comrade’s gravity. “ I don’t know that In-
dian notions would prove very weighty argu-
ments with me if a snowy bison should cross my
path. But we’ll wait and see.”

Jack was to recall his resolution before many

avs.

The banks of the Medicine river, near its
head-waters, were reached a few days after the
conversation just recorded.

The boys found themselves in the midst of
sublime mountain scenery such as they had
never vie wed before.

The Medicine rises in the very heart of the
Rockies. as it seems. and flows swiftly west-
ward toward the Missouri. Not many miles
south of them, as Tom reminded his comrades,
LeWis and Clarke’s famous trail led across the
lofty ranges of the Rockies.

The camp was In the heart of the wilderness,

. and the clear waters of the mountain river re-

flected their white tent, and the curling smoke
of the camp-fire.

Headed by the guide, the boys set to work,
and very soon a comfortable lograbin rose on
the bank of the stream. By common consent,
after a suggestion from Jack, the place was
christened White Buffalo Camp.

The horses found rich pasturage near by, the
cam utensils were unpacked and arranged by
the ys, who worked under the spell of a
praiseworthy enthusiasm.

“ You're not goin’ to spile that bird by cook-
in’ it in a skillet, ar’ you 1” suddenly ejaculated
Yellowstone Oil, as Tom came from the tent
the second time with a camp—skillet in one hand,
and a fluelarge ptarmigan 1n the other.

“ It will not spoil it," the boy answered. “ I’ve
cooked some at college, and—~”

“School cookin’ is nowhar among the Rock-
ies!” interru ted Oll. “Give me the bird, an’
toss that skil et back into the tent."

Tom surrendered the plump bird, but reve-
rently carried the abused cooking utensil away.

“Ill show you how to cook a. bird with its
coat on,” continued the guide. “ A Rocky
Mountain hunter is hisiown receipt-book, an’
he’s no slouch when it comes to cookin’, it I do
say it myself.”

The old guide then proceeded todraw or clean
the bird, which was well washed out. and its
feathers. which were not removed. soused in

 

 

water. 'The fowl was next imbedded in hot
coals and ashes. and left to itself.

A large rabbit which Jack had brought down
with a. charge of No. 7, was roasted on a stick,
but the ptarmigan was pronounced by all the
cream of the feast, for when it was taken from
its oven of coals the skin and feathers peeled off
easily, and the flesh was found wonderfully ten- ,
der and juicy.

Yellowstone Oll, much to his gratification,
was unanimously voted an excellent cook, and
the boys vowed that their camp cookery thence-
forward should be largely under the guide’s
control.

“You can cook salmon an’ trout that way,”
said 011, “an’ when they’re spread before you
on a chip, they’d tempt a king. 1 tell you,
boys—”

The guide’s observation was suddenly broken
bya shot that brought the occupants of the
camp up standing with cocked rifles in their
hands, and faces turned toward the west, from
which direction the report had come. »

The uide’s face wore a uzzled expression.

“In ians?” whispered ' om, gliding to his,

side.

“I think not, boy; but I’ll go an’ see."

The young hunters did not feel at their case
when they saw their mainstay disappear among ‘
the shadows beyond the camp—fire. They drew '
closer together, and watched and listened with,
their fingers at the triggers of their Winches-

ers.

Presently a peculiar laugh which they instantly
recognized was borne to their ears. and the next
moment two figures, one of them 011’s, came
into View. '

“ Thank Heaven it’s a white boy, and not In-
dians!” ejaculated Hiram. “I thought we were
the only pale-faces in this vicinity, but—”

“ Boys," said the guide, interruptin , “ let me
introduce RockyDave of the Forks o the Mis-

souri—a chap I’ve met afore when be war no 

bigger than a gopher.”

CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST GRIZZLY.

WE need not inform the reader that the un~
expected visitor was cordial] Welcomed to the
camp on the bank of the Me icine.

He was a romantic-looking youth of seven-
teen, well proportioned, and with a jovial nature
that peepecl out of the clear depths of his blue
e es.

yHis garments had been made from the skins
of various animals, which had fallen victims to
his aim and artifice.

His cap had been fashioned from the pelt of a.
young si ver fox, and was much admired by the
young New Yorkers. Tom pronounced it a
piece of extravagance, and reminded the boy

unter that such a prime pelt as his head‘cover-
ing had once been would have lined his buckskin
pockets with Sliver.
‘ “ I’ve no use for money here,” laughed Rocky
Dave. “ I haven’t seen a coined dollar for five
years. When I went ammunition, I shoulder a

ew pelts, tramp over to Helena or up to Fort,
‘ The fur-buyer up at

 

Garry, and stock up.

Garry said I ought to be whipped tor makimz a ‘ ‘

‘,~.

 

 

  
        

\ I“! g 

 

   

    

The Young Trail Hunters.

 

cop out of a silver fox pelt; but I guess the fur

was my own ro rty, and I told him so. too.”
The boys lik the young Westerner’s inde-

pendence, and invited him to remain with them

while they stayed among the mountains.

“ I never stay long at any one place,” was his

reply. “ I’m here to-day and gone to morrow;
but since I think we would get alon very well
may stay

and there’s plenty of game here,
some time. I didn t think I was near your cam p
till after I had tossed a bullet after the grimly I
had been‘followiug for some time.”

“ A grizzly?” echoed the three boys.

“That’s what I call him,” and Rocky Dave
sent a quick glance toward the look guide. “ He
wasn’t a very big one—might have weighed nine
hundred, mebbe a little more. I didn’t expect
to hit him, for it was too dark to shoot, and I
would have followed him if 011 here hadn’t run
aeross me.”

Having been invited, Rocky Dave seated him-
self at the fire and finished the remains of the
supper while he answered as fast as he could
the many questions of the boy hunters.

They earned that he had been raised among
the mountains, that his father was killed by a

. band of Blackfeet when he was quite small, ‘

and that he himself fell into the hands of the
Indians. He was placed under the tender tu-
telage of acrabbed Squaw, from whom he es-
caped at the first opportunity, and whom he
‘succeeded in eluding ever aterward.

Thus thrown upon his own resources, Rocky

Dave grew up in Grizzly Laud, subsisting on
V the spoils of the chase, and meeting with wild
adventures that would fill a volume. It was
true that he had encountered Ye lowstone Oll,
the guide, before the {present meeting, and it
was to the tall, bronzx fellow that he was in-
debted for his first hunting outfit—rifle, revolv-
er and ammunition.
ky Dave could neither rend nor write, but
he possessed a natural quickness and intelligence
that almost took the places of the two acquire-
ments. Brave almost to a fault. keen-eyed and
thoroughly posted on the country, what more
valuab e gift could fortune have sent to White
, Buffalo Camp?

“This isn’t b’ar meat. by a long shot,” ex-
claimed Dave, as his teeth picked the last rab-
bit bone. “ I say, did you ev-ir taste grizzly!”

This question, thrown directly into the trio's
laces. made them blush. _

Jack came to the rescue bv sa ng that they
had been in the camp but a few ours, and had
not yet enjoyed an extended hunt; they had
not, therefore feasted on bear—meat; but they
hoped (with a proud glance at the magnificent
rifles near by) to hroil some juicy grizzly steaks
‘on the banks of Medicine river. .

“ There’s no occasion for put' ing' ofl the b’ar
hunt another hour,” announced the boy of the
mountains, when Jack had finished. “ The chap
I shot at can’t be more than two miles down the
river. an’ as there’s a full moon hanging in the
sky. I’m sure we can have a tussle with Old
Ephraim.”

The three youths looked at Yellowstone 011.

r “ Let’s give him a. bout store we turn in,” the
guide suggested.

full they were equipped tor the light without
further reparation.

New he] was heaped u on the camp-fire, to
keep four footed marau are like wolves and
mountain lions from committing any depreda—
tions. and the whole party, gui ed by Rocky
Dmm. snllie I out of camp.

While Rocky Dave was leading his new ac-
quaintances toward that part of the country
where he had seen and fired at the grizzly, he
dld not regale them with any stories, but kept
a sharp lookout ahead.

With the confidence of a man who travels a
road he h 5 often traveled before, the young
grizzly—hunter led the party to the spot from
which he had fired at the brute.

“Now I’ll show ou the size of his foot,” he
said, looking into he boys’ faces with a smile,
and thereupon he bounded away toward the
river bank where the clay was yielding.

Stooping down at a certain place he pointed
to a huge indentation in the earth.

Eager to behold a fresh bear-track, their first,
i Tom, Jack, and Hi bent forward and gazed with
distended eyes. I

Before themin the clay was the impression
of a foot which would have done credit to
Jumbo.

“ If there were elephants here I would pro-
nounce that the track of one!” ejaculated Tom.
“It cannot be a bear-track.”

“ It’s nothin’ else,” averred the mountain boy.
“ An’ big as the track is, the b’ar’s a powerful
sight bigger.”

“ Thets an observation none of us will die-
pute, Rocky. This is my first grizzly-track,
you know, and it astonishes me. Let us follow
’trhe trail and bring the animal to bay,” urged

om.

The hunt was resumed.

For some distance down the river the huge
tracks were easily discerned in the moonlight,
but when the grizzly left the stream and went
toward a gulch, well-shadowed and lofty-walled,
rifles were cooled and the pursuit was continued
with much caution.

“ Thar’s a. break in this canyon about half-
way down it,” observed the tall guide. “I
guess an ’artllquake once tore the walls apart
just to lot the moonlight in on such a night as
this. We’re apt to find the grizzly somewhar
high the break if he took to the canyon. I met
a b‘ar in a gulch once, an’ I ran.” '

The three boys looked astonished.

“Yes, I actually showed my moccasin-soles
to a grizzly, but the story will eep,” continued
Oll, noticing the looks. “ When you want the
yarn spun. just let me know Yes, Old Ephraim

as entered the canyon. Now look out.’

The three words of caution were not needed to
keep up watchfulness, for the young hunters
were on the gut owe.

The gulch or canyon was not the most desir-
able lace for an encounter with a full-grown

gr: y.

The wall on either side was precipitous and
seemed to tower to the sky. Here and there a
few stunted bushes grew. and ever seemed to
thrive, from crevices in the solid rock; but, for
the most part, the walls were entirely bars of
verdure of any kind. ‘

 

‘ The young New Yorkers sprung erl to
their riflesnnd as the magazine oreaogohywu

The‘New York boys had been interned in

     

_ ,‘Wuwwfiwfi’; -

   
  
 

  
 



l

 i .2353?“

\

The Young Trail Hunters. ' 3

 

whispers by Rocky Dave that at the foot of the
volcanic cleft in the walls s an immense
‘bowlder on which he had once shot a mountain

on.

He had just imparted this information, when

a low exclamation from Yellowstone Oil told
all that a discovery had been made.
I “ Thar’s Old Ephraim l” whispered the guide,
sendingaquick look at the boys who had sprung
to his side. “ He war on the big bowlder, but
he isn’t thar now. I got a. glimpse of him as his
hind-quarters left the rock.

A cautious crawl forward of a few yards re-
vealed the large stone to all. It lay in the
moonlight that reached it by passing through
thencleit which led up to the top of the rocky

wa .

While the Young Trail Hunters gazed at the
stone a dark object slowly rose above it, and
Erasently presented the head and shoulders of a

1g grizzly.

The apparition looked grotesque in the moon-
li ht, for
w itish side of one of the walls of the fissure, and
the grizzly’s head threw a clear-cut shadow
upon it.

It was evident that the hear was standing on
his hind feet, with his fore paws resting on the
top of the stone like the hands of a man. He
had not seen his hunters who had neared him
from leeward, and were standing among the
deep shadows of the main ulch.

After showing his head or a few moments,
the bear leaped u n the rock with the agility
of an acrobat. e was an immense creature
and'lgave his enemies a good view of his body.

“ hat grizzly’s ot a funny streak on to-
night,” remarked ellowstone Oil, watching
the bear, who was performing a number of ludi-

crous antics on the tablelike surface of the,

rock. “ He ought to be a circus b’ar, but we’re
here to spoil his fun, so let’s to business."

The three boys were eager to try their Win-
chesters on the bear, and were overjoyed when
the guide suggested that hostilities open.

“ Let the Yankee lads do the shootin’ Rocky.
We’ve had our share of it in the past,” whispered
Oll. “ Now, ho s. thar’s'lyour first grizzlg.
Don’t get the hue fever. eke him behindt e
fore shoulder or back 01 the ear.
Old Ephraim.”

Conscious of their ability to shoot with ef-
fect, Tom and his comrades lifted their rifles to
their shoulders, and took deliberate aim at the
monster target.

The three weapons cracked together, and the

\ bear well shot but not killed, owing, I’m
afraid, toa slight attack of “buck fever” on
the part of the marksmen, fell from the bowlder
with a sharp growl. ,

“Hurrah! our first grizzly!” exclaimed Jack

hin forward.

“Ho di that’s a lively b’ar yeti" called out
Yellowstone Oil; but Jack did not hear him.

Amomcnt later the impetuous b0 realized
the truth of the guide's remark, for t e grimly
had regained his feet, and madly contronted

n.—

Make sure of

just beyond the bowlder was the‘

 

CHAPTER III. '
A WOLF-HUNT sroxLuD—RED-sml.

“ A GRIZZLY is not dead tin you‘ve killed
him.” is a remark heard often among the hun-
ters’ camps in the Rockies. _

Jack Roberts, wilese enthusiasm had carried
him forward after the volley just discharged at
the bear on the bowider, was destined to have

the truth of the above saying forcibly impressed -

upon his mind.

He executed an abrupt halt when he found
himself confronted by the enraged and bleeding
monarch of the mountains.

Full of fight, the grizzly saw nothing but his

young aggressor, who was rushing between his I

distended jaws. Raisin suddenly on his hind
feet, be advanced upon ack, who still held his
well-charged Winchester in his hands, but de-
prived seemingly of his powers of action.

“ Shoot quick, or run 1’
0112 who saw Jack’s peril. _

‘ I’ll not run without shooting. that’s certain ”
was the plucky response, for the uide’s wor a
had broken the spell and given ack the nerv
of an old hunter. \-

He saw the towering form of the advancing
bear and clapped hi rifle against his shoulder.

“Steady! steady!” called out the guide who

saw J ack’s action.

The youn amateur stood like a statue in the
clear moon ight, not a muscle moved, not a
hand uivered.

Old
Jack’s rifle spoke.

The be fired at a curl on the animal’s breast,
and quic ly sent two more balls after the first,
as the bear staggered back like a giant shot
through the chest.

Although the grizzly struck the ground heavil
and layt ere already dead, Jack did not a -
vance. He had acted hastily before, and was
not disposed to repeat an mdiscretion which
might have cost him his life. ‘

Yellowstone 01], however, knew that the last" I
at an end to the bear’s career. and. j
still maintained his pOsition, he ‘ ‘

shots had
while Jac
rushed forward, knife in hand, and soon stood
over the carcass. '

It was found upon examination that not one '-
of the first three shots had inflicted a mortal '

wound' they were of the kind that madden
a grizzly and almost craze him with pain, ren-
dering him one of the most terrible antagonists
that man can encounter.

'i‘he “ that bear” secured by the tenants of

, White Bufl‘aio Camp was an animal rather

above average size and Weight. He would have
tipped the beam at one thousand pounds. The
skin which 011 and Rocky Dave took ed in an

incredibly short space of time, much to the 

Eastern boys’ astonishment, was enough to
Wei ht a stout man down, and after some
stea 3 had been cut 01!, the remainder of the
carcass was left to the coyote and wolf.

That night yet—the hour was not late—the
boys tasted their first bear-meat, which Rocky
Dave was permitted to cook to suit himself, and
the gap? was voted superb.

go down to thecaroass about the time

themoonzoesdownan’pay ourroweotstothe

shouted Yellowstone

phraim was not two rods distant when,

 

 

 

The Young Trail Hunters.

 

wolves,” announced the guide in the midst of l
the su er.

“ I‘ ike that!" cried Tom. “ Nothing would
suit me better than to send a few bullets
whistling among a pack of wolves. But will
they scent the carcass!”

“ Bles you, yesl” was the reply. “ I’d wager
my knife that the old heads already sniff it.
The wolf of the Rockies has a nose for business.
Natur’ didn’t sharpen it for nothin’, boys.”

The prospect of a brush with wolves kept the
young New Yorkers awake and in excellent,
spirits as the hours sped away.

The light of the camp-fire struggled toward
the middle of the stream and tipped the waves
with subdued crimson, now that; the moon was
fast sinking westward, and her soft, silvery
light no longer fell where it had lately lain.

Stretched on a blanket in hunt of the fire,
and resembling an Indian bo 'hunter in his
romantic garments, lay Rockyllave, his trusty
rifle within reach, and his tongue moving glibly
over some of his adventures. His interested
audi'ors seemed to listen with bated breath,
while Yellowstone 011 was mending a broken
belt, preparing for some tough work in the
future.

Ever and anon the old guide would glance up ;
at the young story-teller and hiilisteners, to be- '
stow a well-pleased smile upon the little group,
and then resume his work. 1

When the belt was pronounced mended by a
satisfactory nod from OH, and when Rocky I
Dave finished his third story, a wild reminiscence 
of Blackfoot land, the moon v as deemed suffi-
ciently low to start on the wolthunt.

The little party moved straight toward the
canyon. Now and then the lo: g howl of a wolf

, was borne to their ears, and at each detonation,

yr Yellowstone 011 would glance at the amateurs
as much as to say: “They’re gathering to the
feast. We’ll have some rare sport if nothing
miscarried” ,

The five redoubled their pace, and notlong
afterward had the pleasure of looking over the
canyon wall where it was lowest upon a writh-
ing mass of wolves that had already attacked 1
the slain hear. The vicious hrutes could not be
seen distinctly, but collectively they made a‘
mass visible enough for a. target. \

The amateurs were eager to empty their l
rifles among the animals, and thrust the barrels .
downward over the edge of the cliff. I

“ Are we all to fire at once?” asked Tom, look— ‘

‘ ing at Yellowstone 01], whose face at that l
moment was turned away as though he had ‘
heard asound that did not emanate from the ;
gteiiuggling wolves three hundred and fifty feet ,

ow.

The guide raised his hand indicative of silence,
but made no reply.

“ What’s up! whispered Hi at Tom’s ear.

“May I be hanged if I know," was the an-
swer in a like tone. “ I shall not be surprised,
however, if we see game larger than wolves
before we get out of this place. Awhile ago I
saw Rocky Dave touch 011’s arm significantly,
and the two exchanged glances that had a deep
meaning. Neither thinks that I saw them, and
my discovery was the merest accident. Truth -
to tell. Hiram. if we are in Grizzly Land we

 

    

are not far from a part of Indiandom. Maybe
Old Kiawa is on the lookout for Rock Dave.”

“ She’s the only living creature the oy seems
to fear. I hon" ‘hey may never meet.”

Kiawa. was the Blackfoot hag to whose tender
mercies the boy hunter of the Rockies had been
consigned after his capture by the Indians, an
event referred to in the foregoing par-es.

At the c10se of one of his narratives, Rocky
Dave had told the boys that “Old Kiawa,” as
he always called her, was surely hunting him
still, for he was aware that she had sworn to
hunt him down and subject him to terrible tor-
tures of her own invention.

Yellowstone 011 paid no attention to Tom’s
question about firing on the wolves, more than
to command silence, and the boy bear-hunter
was listening like the guide.

“ I’m gemng restless l” at last ejaculated Hi,
in atone that drew a quick, reproving glance
from Oll’s eyes. “ This thing is getting a trifle
monotonous. I’m for giving the gluttons down
in the can on a volley before they finish the
carcass an take to their heels.”

At that moment Yellowstone Oll turned half-
way round, and his great hand fell upon Hi’s
shoulder. _

“ We’re not oin’ to make sieves out of well
hides to-night, he said. “ We’ve got to go
back to camp at once, or else somebody may
beat us thar.’ _

The young amateurs felt like springing to
their feet instanter. '

They seemed to understand the last sentence
as quickly as it was spoken. I

“ Indians!” fell from their lips.

“I thought you’d guess it, though I didn’t

fast say lnjunl” re lied Oll, who was not the
east bit excited. ‘ Thar’s a gap of Blackfeet
near us 'ust as surely as thar ar wolves down
thar. ou mightn’t hear ’em if you’d listen an
hour. boys. but I’ve heard red-skins afore.
The ’re out on a sneakin’ trip of some kind,
an’ don’t want to scare you when I say that
they’re headin’ for White anfler Camp; but it's
a fact nevertheless. Come!”

‘Led by Yellowstone Oil, and between him
and Rocky Dave. who brought u the rear, the

young New Yorkers found themse ves returning

ovor the same ground they had lately traversed.

Not a word was spoken, for all realized the
importance of silence.

The camp was reached without accident or
incident of any kind. I

The camp-fire was burning low, and the flick-
ering blaze made ghostly shadows.

“We’re here safe,” said Yellowstone Oll,
turning his face defiantly toward the cinyon.
“ Now let the In 'uns come.

An hour passe away, but nothing roused the
hunters. ~

The horses and mules had been brought in and
corraled near the cabin, and the hunters watch-
ed slee lessly, and with their fingers at the trig-
gers 0 their rifles. .

The fire went out entirely. and Tom dropped
asleep, for he was not accustomed to such
len thy vigils.

ellowstone 011 and the rest watched on.

All at once a yell penetrated Tom’s ears. and /

 
  

 

The Young Trail Hunters. 9 /

 

he leaped up, rifle in hand, prepared to repel
any attack.

The next moment a peal of boisterous laugh-
ter saluted him, and he saw his companions
plainly in the broad light of another day!

The night of terror had passod. bringing no
Indians to the camp.

“ Ah! you were trying us, Oll,” said Tom, ap-
proaching the old guide, and smiling as he
gauched his arm and looked up into his honest

ace.

“ Tryin‘ you?" was the echo.

“ I never say I
hear Injuns when I don’t, boy.

True as gospel,

I heard the sneakin’ retl~skins last night. If

they missed us it may be because they wanted
to. Do you want to go back to Helena?"

“Nol’ answered the three boys in a breath.
“ We Came out here for a hunt and a lot of In-
dians shall not frighten us away.”

“I like that kind of grit. It’s the kind that
cleans out grizzlies an’ Injuns. We’ll stay,
boys!”

This was a decision which the occupants of
White Buffalo Camp were destined to recall be-
fore many days.

Time was to prove whether or no Yellowstone
01) had heard the movements of a. hand of
Blackfeet down at the canyon.

 

CHAPTER IV.
JACK HAs A THRILLING ADVENTURE.

THE keen guide’s discovery rendered the ten-
ants of White Buflalo Camp doubly watchful.

They never went abroad unarmed and were
constantly on the alert for Indian “Sign.”

Game of all linds was plenty, and once or
twice during the week that followed the killin
of the grizzly in the gulch, several elk appeure
within sight of the camp, but not within what
Rocky Dave called good shooting distance.

One morning, however, Jack found himself
the sole tenant of the cabin.

Tom and Hiram, or Hi, as he was almost uni-
versally called. accompanied by the guide and
the boy bear hunter. had gone away on the trail
of 9. cinnamon bear which had passed near the
camp during the night.

The hunting party had been gone an hour:
but the reports of their rifles had not been borne
to the sta -at-home’s ears.

Sudden y Jack saw an ob ect lunge, into the
river from the opposite ban an swim toward
the shore on which the cabin had been erected.

That it was a deer of some species Jack well
knew, but so intent was he upon watching its
movements that he quite forgot his rifle which
stood within easy reach. .

The cabin stood directly behind a number of
loityrflrs that lifted their green crests Skyward,
and was artly concealed from the “ewe! any
green who might be looking toward it from

e river.

For awhile the deer swam directly toward
the shunt and Jack thought it would strike the
shore in rout of him; but all at once the ani-
mal veered to the right, and reached the bank
some distance below the camp.

Jack could scarcely re ress a cry of admira-
tion when he saw the noble swimmer show him-
“113 Sinai! stat, with the finest set of horns

 

ever carried through the forest by one of his
in .

“Ah! if he was but within range!” ejaculated
the young hunter, still eying the deer, which
seemed totally unaware of his (presence. “I
lwond’er if I could ‘creep’ him an get a shot at

im?

The question was a suggestion which was
acted upon at once, for Jack stepped back into .
the cabin to reappear the next moment ready
for the deer-hunt.

The stag had not left the spot where it had
last been seen shaking the water from his
drenched coat.

Jack immediately placed several trees be-
tween him and the animal, and crept forward
with more skill than Yellowstone 011 would
have given him credit for. He approached
from leeward.

His final succem with the grizzly had inspired
Jack with the hope that he might yet become
more than an amateur hunter.

If he could but dro the stag what atrophy
he could exhibit to is friends upon their re-
turn!

Nearer and still nearer to the buck crept
Jack, his he s of victory increasing each mo-.
ment, and e at last found himself within fair
fifleéshot, though not as near as he would have
He .

Indeed, he had reached the end of his crawl;
he could not proceed further without exposing
himself to the animal.

“ I’ll risk a shot anyhow,” he said to himself.
“ The buck must be two hundred yards oil, but
it’s now or never.”

Jack rose and rested the rifle alongsidetho
tree. and began to take deliberate aim.

As if to insure his success, the buck had‘
turned so as to give him on excellent shot at the
heart, an accommodation for which the boy
murmured his thanks. .

“ 13511an I never thought I’d have an attack
of the buck fever,” exclaimed Jack as he raised
his head and saw the rifle shaking in his nervo-
less hands. “ If I were to shoot now I couldn’t
hit a barn door at fifty yards. I’ll try it
again.” ‘

Once more his cheek dropped to the stock of
the gun, and he covered the buck again, this
time with better success. ~ ,

When he touched the trigger a loud re 1;
awoke the echoes of his surroundings an , to.
his gratification, the sta gave a great leap for-
ward, and then pitched eadlong to the earth.

“ It was hit and not miss, and that in spite of
the buck feverl” Jack exclaimed leaving his
tree and springing toward the fallen quarry.
“The boys will open their eyes when they see
my buck-horns.” '

A few bounds brought Jack to the spot where
his victim lav.

Never before did a deer look so beautiful in
his eyes: but perhaps it was because his cun-
ning had secured it. ~ '

The buck was not dead, though evidently
gasping his last; so Jack placed his rifle against
the nearest tree and drew his knife for the pur-
pose of bleeding his prize. '

Now, Jack had never bled a deer. but he had
seen Rocky Dave perform that essential opera-
tion. and thought he had mastered the art. v r '

 

 

«

The Young Trail Hunters. »

 

1

A moment later, improving a little as he'
thought on Rocky Dave’s method, he stood
astride of the deer, and was about to plunge the i
hunting-knife into the throat, when with the‘
suddenness of a torpedo the quarry agrung up,
carryinfi_Jack clear of the ground, an actually
tossing 1:11 into the airl

This ungentlemanly conduct on the part of
the buck fairly dazed Jack.

When heal hted some fifteen feet from the
spot where be ad stricken the buck, he found
hImSelf completely unarmed, for the knife had
been knocked from his hand.

The deer stood between him and his rifle. He
looked fiercer that any deer had ever looked
before, and Jack knew that he had a wounded
and maddened stag to contend with. V

The proud victor of a few moments before
was now in great erii.

This time is ri e was not at his shoulder to
terminate the combat in his favor. Truth to
tell, the buck had the advantage.

Jack had but few seconds for preparation.

He looked around for a weapon, but saw
nothing but afir—stick which looked stout and
ca able of rendering some assistance.

‘I’m ready now! Come on i” he exclaimed,
as he clutched the stick firmly and looked defi-

antly at the deer. “ I can’t choose my weapons,
but  not going to shirk the fight on that ac-
coun .

His challenge was almost instantly accepted,
for he had scarcei braced himsel when the
buck with lowered and rushed upon him.

Jack delivered a good blow, but the treacher-
ous club instantly snapped, and he was tossed
backward b the deer.

“Heaven elp me now!” rung mechanically
from his H as he clutched the pointed antlers
as though e would deprive their owner of their

were.

He was lifted up and borne some distance
through the forest without touching the ground.
If the deer 'was fatally wounded, his strength
would soon be exhausted, but this thought was
not very consolatory to Jack. and there in-
stantly rushed across his mind several stories of
the deer’s wonderful vitality after receiving a
deathvshot.

Jack held on to the antlers, however.

He knew that to fall would be to receive the
horns in his body,_and he still hoped that the
deer would soon give up the ghost.

He was carrie fifty yards when the enraged
brute dashed furiously toward a lant flr.

Jack saw his awful danger an uttered a cry
of despair.

If he were dashed against the tree victory
would speedily declare in favor of his antlered
antagonist. He therefore resolved to try his

. fortunes on term firm.

The boy hunter had to think and act rapidly.
Note second was to be lost.

Jack threw himself from the branching ant-
lers, but the change from air to earth did not
benefit him.

The deer stooped and drew back with blood-
shot eyeballs that looked like coals of fire.

Poor Jack! Escape seemed impossible now.

A. second later those fiery eyes were directly
over him; he reached up to clutch the horns

 

again, butvhis weak arms were knocked aside,

dud he felt himself being pressed into the
ground as it were.

At that moment, when Jack had been forced
by the horror of his situation to surrender the
last vestige of hope, the woods rung with the
clear report of a rifle, and the charging buck
fell back quivering in the death-agony!

The reader may rest assured that Jack lost no
time in regaining his feet.

His first glance was at the deer which was
already dead, then he turned toward the direc-
tion from whence the shot had come, anxious to
See his rescuer.

Jack really expected to see the well-known
figure of Yellowstone Oll backed by Tom, H1,
and Rocky Dave; but instead he beheld a stal-
wart red-skin warrior, who was advancing upon
him with Ian hy strides.

The boy’s st thought was of his rifle, for be
instantly recalled the guide’s estimate of a
Blackfoot’s character, but the Indian, instantly
divining his intention, leaped toward the tree
agIainst which the weapon leaned.

t was now a race for the rifle.

The twain gained the tree at the same
moment, and Jack reached for the weapon only
to See a red arm interposed, and his trusty fire-
arm was boldly captured.

“ White boy no shoot Red Bear 1” growled the
Indian. “Blackfoot save his life, but him no
thank Injun.”

“I do thank you,” spoke up Jack, quickly.
‘ffll am for peace if you are; but I want my
1') e.

“ White boy shall have it,” was the red-skin’s
answer, and with the last word Jack found his
gun once more in his possession. _

The Blackfoot’s action took him by surprise.
He did not expect to recover his rifle so easuy,
nor could he account for the Indian’s generosity.

“Where camp?” was the question that fol-
lowed at the heels of the Blackfoot’s last sen-
tence. '

Jack made no reply.

What! tell that evil-eyed Indian where
White Buffalo Camp was, that he might go
thither to find it tenantless and unprotected? .

If he had saved his life, mi ht e not belong
to the band Yellowstone 011 ad heard at the
canyon, its chief, if not its spy?

“White boy can't carry eer-meat to camp.
Red Bear carry it for him," continued the
Indian, noticing Jack’s reticence. “ Injun
carr horns, hide an’ meet all down.”

“ on don’t catch me with that bait,” thought
the boy, and then he said aloud: '

“ The deer is ours, you killed 1t. I don’t
want a ound 0 meat. I am going back to
camp. e want no visitors there just now.”

He stepped back as he finished, leaving the
Blackfoot amazed at his audacity.

CHAPTER V.
THE snow BETWEEN THE EYES.

THE exact location of White Buflalo Cam
was no small puzzle to the Blackfoot brave, an
Jack began to see through the red-skin’s gener-
osity when he saw the frown that overspread
his ainted features as he turned away.

“Siust have plenty of meat at camp,” growl-
ed the Indian, in tones that reached the boy’s
ears. .

 

     
 

     

  
  
  
  
 

_ mt..-“

    

The Young- Trail Hunters. 9 7

 

To this Jack made no reply- he had deter-é f rthe camp ani 0 h m. Had you rpgujde im
mined to lengthen the distance between the In- t8 it, Jack. Iwisli I had 1been within rifle-gllot

flian and himself.
He would lead no Blackfoot warrior to the
uanotected camp.

l about that time.”

“ What would you have done, 0111”
The guide gave Jack a significant look which

t first the savage seemed inclined to follow was answer enough; but he would have replied

Jack, but reading correctly the look in his eye, ‘

he allowed him to move away unchecked.

“ I’ve lost a buck, but ot rid of an Indian,”
he said to himself, as 6 increased his gait,
eager to reach the cam as quickly as possible.
“ now believe that ii heard a red-skinned
band down at the can on.
our vigilance from this moment. Indians are
about. ’

More than once Jack lanced over his shoul-
der, fearful that he was eing followed by the
wily Blackfoot; but no gliding figure was seen,
and he soon afterward reached the camp safely.

_He found everything unmolested, greatly to
his delight. The hunting party had not re-
turned, and Jack had time to think over his ad~
venture before they put in an appearance.

He had not been absent from the camp for

more than an hour, but into that brief space of 1
time enough peril and incident had been crowd- ‘

ed to last im six months.

There was nothing particular about Red
Bear's personal appearance to distin uish him
from other braves of the Blackfoot tri Jack
would liked to have assessed some mark by
which the Indian cou d be recognized, for the
boy felt that he owed him much for his timely
interference.

The sun was mounting toward the meridian
when the hunters came in with some plump
garmigan, several mountain hares and a young

ar which Tom had had the good fortune to

shoot.
Jack soon imparted his adventures to the

grou .

“ [p told you so the other ni htl” exclaimed
Yellowstone Oil. “ Left our uck, home an’
:11], to, the red-skin, eh! e must get those an-

ersl *

“ They are not there now,” said Jack, quickly.
“ The Indian stepped toward the deer before I
got out of sight.

“ It isn’t his buck i” cried the guide. “The old
fig? war a dead deer when the red-skin shot

“ 1 must say that he was the liveliest corpse I
ever saw,” and Jack smiled grimly. “ Think of
a dead buck carrying a fellow fifty yards, and
then attempt to gore the life out of him, boys."

“ I mean that you had given him a mortal
wound, Jack, an’ that cause uently he b’longed
to you, not to that In un. _ ’ve seen bucks act
just that way for a litt e while after havin re-
ceived a death-shot. You’ve got to have on
11143111}. They’re just whar you left ’em. I know

a

As Yellowstone Oll was determined to recover
the antlers, Jack oflered to guide him to the
spot; and leaving Hi and Rocky Dave in camp
to watch it and repare the fresh game for din-
ner, the rest of t e party started 03.

“ The mean sneakin’ In 'unl” grated the old

ide. “Doth I know a lackfoot as well as

eknowshiinselfl He’stoo lasyto hunt wand

We must redouble ‘

 

 

in words if Tom had not exclaimed:

“Yonder’s your buck Jack! The Indian has
skinned him, and hung the carcass out of reach
of the wolves."

Sure enough the carcass of a deer was seen
hanging from the bough of a tree some distance
ahead, and on coming up, the little party saw
the hide and the horns also stowed away near
the body.

“Red B’ar’s not so mean after all,” said Oll.
“ He knowed you’d come back for your prop-
erty, Jack an’ so he thought he’d do you a
favor. Whewi what buc hornsl” and the
speaker held up the spreading trophies of Jack’s
progress much to the boy’s satisfaction and

n e.
p “ ’d be willing to meet a Blackfoot to kill
such a deer as that 1” said Tom, as he examined
the horns. “Jack, you’ve been gettin all the
big game since we settled down on edicine
river. Hi and I will have to put a etc to your
achievements; we want to bag someth g larger
than a bear cub before long.’

“I shall not stand in our road,” answered
Jack. “ But look yonder what is that?” ‘
011 and Tom instantly turned to the west, to-

ward which Jack was pointing. '

About fifty yards from the spot where the
stood the long trunk of a fir lay on the groan .
It had fallen along time before that day, for its
to was quite brown and dead.

' ed above the body of the fallen monarch
of the wood midway between tog and butt, was
a huge black head. This was t 0 object that
had attracted Jack’s attention, for he had seen
it appear suddenly above the tree.

“ it’s a b‘ari’ exclaimed Yellowstone 011.
“It’s no ' ly, though; but he carries good
steaks no or his skin, just the same. Do you
claim the shot. Tom?”

The guide’s question was called forth b seein
Tom bring his rifle down from his shoul er as
getting ready to fire. . . \

“ Yes, shoot, Tom 1” said Jack; “ it is a splen-
did tsrget, equal to the one my buck presented.
Give ’him a center shot between his evil little ,
e es.

y“.I will!” and Tom's ride was lifted to his
shoulder. ,

A tree stood two feet from the oung hunter,
and the next moment he was aim n at the bear
whose ogrish head was still above e leg as if
he was satisfying a curiosity, or gratifying a

whim.

Tom’s rifle rested against the tree just spoken
of, and Jack and the guide were waiting anx‘
“shaver” . u.

u n y e repor o a rifle went eehoin
through the little glade in which the trio stood:
and the bear’s hea instantly disappeared.

“There’s a center shot for you!” exclaimed
the boy hunter, throwing a proud lance at his
wilds. “ You’ll and, a dead  M

Q

 
 

 

  

10

The Young Trail Hunter-I.

 

 

 

A broad grin appeared on 011‘s face.
“ What are you grinning at, Yellowstone?” .
cried T m. '

“ You missed the Mir.”

“Missed him? I guess not!”
d “that’s that running through the wood you-

er

Tom, blushing to his temples, looked over the
guide’s outstretched hand and saw a dark object
that looked very much like a bear making tracks ‘
through the wood beyond the fallen tree. l

“ It was a miss, sure enough,” Jack remarked. ‘_

Tom was too perplexed to answer for a. mo—
ment. I

He was mad at himself. I

“If I can’t shoot any better than that, I’ve
no business in Grizzly Land,” he growled.
“ How did I come to miss such a head as that at ,
fifty yards? Can you explain it. 011?” g
“Mebbe I kin after we’ve followed the bul- '

let.” and the guide strode forward, followed by i

the boys. ‘

“I took the best of aim, I thought,” Tom
said, as they neared the log, Yellowstone 011 j
diligently stepping the distance. “This is one
r shot I do not think I will record in my diary.
Here we are,” and Tom leaped upon the tree. ,
“ Great heavens! a bear!”

He sprung from the log with the startling ex-
clamation ringing from his lips, and cocked his
gun for an emergency.‘

“By hookeyl a b’arl—but a dead one,” ex-
claimed Oll. who was peering ovor the log, with ,
one of his bronzed fingers at the trigger. “ You
didn’t miss your b’ar after all, Tom. There
must have been a air of ’em.”

Tom Tur in fe t like sending a shout of vic-
tory throng the forest. Boldly advancing, de— ,
spite a possibility that the bear might not be
dead, he sprung upon the log again, and gazed ‘
down upon his trophy. ,

He had not throw.~ away he shot after all,
for at his feet lay one of the lat est black bears
that had ever traveled the dar deflles of the

Rockies.

The ball had entered the forehead directly be-
tween the eyes. producinginstant death. There ,
had been two bears behind the log, and it was
the male that had cowardly fled at the death of V
his comps

 

 

 

mon.

“ That shot’s a credit to you,” said the guide,
bestowing a look of admiration upon the ex— 2
ultant young marksman. “Thar was a time, i
when I couldn’t shoot as well. You’ll drop an— 1
telopes on the run before we leave the Medicine
country.” _

“If the Indians mind their own business,”‘
put in Jack, with a smile. ‘

“The Indians? Oh, we’ll take care of them,”
replied Tom, confidently, from the carcass of
the bear, on which he had seated himself. “I‘m
prouder of this shot, Jack, than I was of my
victory in the Latin examination last winter.”

“You ought to be for Latin never killed a
b’ar,” said 011 seriously. “But we’re goin’
back to‘camp.”

Tom sprung up and in a short time the best
portions of the two carcas=es were ready for
trans art to White Buffalo Camp.

Yc lowstone Oil declared that the Blackfoot
one: skinning the deer had struck oi! in a.

 

northerly direction. evidently with the inten-
tion of rejoining other members of his nation
who were doubtless roaming somewhere in the
neighborhood.

That night White Buflalo Camp was the
scene of jest, song and story as it tenants
gathered round the ruddy fire after a supper
that would have delighted the most fastidious
epicure.

Bear steaks, grouse and mountain hare make
dishes not to be despised, and we need not say
that the partakers of the feast mentioned did
justice to the occasion.

The light of the fire crept far up toward the
branches of the stately trees that surrounded
the camp, and now and then, when a. new
stick was added to the glowing bed, myriads of
sparks would seek the stars.

It was the story telling hour, and one relished
by every hunter who has camped in the woods,
whether on the banks of the Au Sable, or deep
in the heart of the Rockies.

Jack, Tom and Hi had no stories to spin,
therefore Yellowstone OH and Rocky Dave
had to open their budgets of adventure.

In the well-spun yarns of grizzly and buffalo
hunts the three amateurs forgot the sneaking
Blackfeet, and finally turned in without a
thought of the red marauders.

Side by side they slept undisturbed while Yel~
lowstone 01] and Rocky Dave, two faithful
souls, guarded the camp with sleepless eyes.

 

CHAPTER VI.
A TURKEY THAT was NOT A town.

CAMP life in the rookies is varied by many
sports and pleasures which serve to turn the
hunters’ minds from the dangers by which they
may be surrounded: and during the three days
immediately following the advmtures last re-
corded, the tenants of White Buffalo—the boys
at least forgot entirely the proxmnty of man’s
rid foo, and reveled in the excitements of the
0 use.

Not for a moment after Jack’s encounter
with the Blackfoot was the camp left entirely
unprotected. Its occupants watched it by turns
so that while a hunt was going on, somebody
was always at home.

Yellowstone Oll’s belief was that the prowl-
ing Indians ’ object was theft and not massacre,
for the Blackfeet had lately made a new treaty
with the Government in which they agreed to
take no white lives rt all.

The presence of one person _in the camp,
therefore. might keep it from being plundered,
but let it be deserted for an hour, and the red
thieves would swoop down upon it With the
voracity of vultures. ‘

“Don't let anything take you from camp,”
was always Yellowstone Oll's last command to
the camp guard when the rest were ready to
depart on a hunt. “ Them Blackfeet ar‘ up to
more tncks than-a clown, an’ they‘re shrewder
than fazes. besides.”_ _ »

These words fell upogfiiram's ears one after—
noon, when his companions had equipped them-

selves for a bear~hunt on one of the forks of the‘

Medicine, about seven miles from the camp.
“ Yes. keep close watch. Hi.” said Tom. “It’s

 

    
 

 

The Young- 'I‘rail Hunters.

my turn next, and then you’ll get a chance at
some big game."

Hiram was left alone just as Jack had been
left on a similar occasion a few days previous.

He amused himself in various ways until the
sun began to ne'rthe western horizon. Then
the minutes grew into hours of extreme dull-
ness, and the youth put up the book he had been
reading, for its pages no longer interested him.

He did not know that all the while the keen-
est of eyes had been regarding him from the
trees that grew near the water’s edge not far

c .

If he had looked toward the river occasionally 1
he might have caught glimpses of several figures 1
as they flitted from tree to tree, gradually np— l
proachmg the camp, but he did not catch sight 1
of a single one. ‘

The long shadows of evening came, and the
young guard began to look for the hunters’ re-
turn.

He replenished the fire, which had been al- ,
lowed to smolder during his reading hour, and '
got everything ready for the supper. which he
was confident the absent party would bring in.

All at once the clear gobble of a wild turkey
saluted the boy’s ears. The sound was so dis-
tinct that Hiram turned round more than half
expecting to catch sight of the bird.

“Don’t let anything take you from camp.”
sounded as distinctly in his ears at that moment
as if Yellowstone Oll had just spoken them: but

Iiram was inclined to say, “ Pshaw! a few steps
out of the way for a fat gobbler will harm no

0 ‘c.

He listened to the turkey’s call with a burn-
in: desire to bag the lordly fowl. He was satis-
fi )d that it was stationed in a clump of bushes

‘ about two hundred yards from camp, and di-
rectly behind the cabin, and not for a moment
did he imagine that the call was the bait of a.
cunning trap.

After a brief interval the cry was repeated,
and this time with a distinctness that kept Hi-
ram in doubt no longer as to the cook's where-
abouts. He was certainly among the bushes we
have mentioned.

Satisfied as to this, the boy hunter took a
bone turkey-caller from among the manv helps
for hunting they had brought from the States,
and answered the call. Bllt the wary turkey
did not leave his retreat, and Hiram called
again and again with the same result.

“If you will not come to me I’ll make you
pay dearly for your stubbornness!” be ex-
claimed at length, as armed with an excellent
:rifle and shot-run combined, he crept from the
cum intent on bagginz the RObbleP-

“ run no risk of being gored to death if I
don‘t kill my game,” he thought, recalling
J fick’s adventure with the wounded buck. “ It
I kill the turkey I’ll have to patch up a yarn for
01] when he comes back; but that Will not 
hard to do for there was aflock of turkeys in
the trees shove the cabin the other morning. 1
can say that the flock came back. and that I

. aflord. I think

 

£03,th one I’ll have roasted when the boys set

Thus communing with himself—counting-

cliickens betore they were hatched, as it were-—
an proceeded after his turkey. still sending

' .

1 mark; and they came forward until
i near enough to touch him.

11

forth his peculiar notes at intervals from the
mshes.

Both barrels of his firearm were ready cocked,
and his senses were on the all rt.

When he reached the edge of the clump of
bushes the sound ceased. and he listened several
minutes without having it repeated. Had his
movements frightened the bird?

The wild turkey is n wary fowl in his native
State, and often baflles the skill of the best
hunters. He is not found west of the Rockie
and seldom beyond the eastern slopes of the
lofty range. Some of the States, notably Illi-
nois, Wisconsin and Micl ignn, coméir so his fa-
vorite habitat; but he is hunted in ‘unada, and
at times even to the edge of the clime of ice
and snow. . .

Hiram during a vacation had hunted turkeys
in his own State, on damp, hazy, moonlight
nights in autumn. when several can be shot
from the roosting trees without frightening the
flock. and he fancied that he could sialk one in
the Rockies, for was it not the same bird he had
hunted among the Adirondacks? _

As he did not hear the call repeated for some
time after reaching the bushes, Hiram put the
caller to his lips and sounded the notes of the
turkey-hen.

To his delight he was almost immediately an-
swered from a spot just beyond the patch.

The boy crept on again over a path which had‘
doubtless been made through the bushes by,
grizzlics rior to the erection of White hufl’alo
Cam . e was certain that he was approach-
1112 t e turkey.

Suddenly he stopped, for a noise at his right
had attracted his attention.

What was it? , .

'Hiram partly raised up for the purpose of as-
certaining the meaning of the noise, and the
next moment visions of roasted turkey and well-
picked bones vanished from his mil d.

There were Indians among the bushes, for he
saw the leering faces of three Blackfoot braves.’ ,

“ I’ve walked blindly into an Indian trap!” ‘
said Hiram. “ I have mistaken a Blackfoot for
a wild turkey, and I ought to suffer for it.”

It was true that the wily red-skins had de-
coyed the young New Yorker into their power
by imitating the notes of the wild turkey. The
trap had been cunnineg set and the game had
been caught. ' ‘

gafk’s adventure again rushed across his
m n . ‘

Would he escape as well?

“ Hunter Loy give up?" asked one of the Indi-
ans. 0. young brave not much older than Hiram.

“ I reckon resistance would prove useless;
but I don’t see what right you have to demand
my surrender,” Hiram answered. '

“ Hunters come an’ shoot all ltdians’ game.”

“Justasif vnu can kill all these mountains
_I know what all this means.
am to be detained here while some of your
comrades .rlunder the camp. I can tell you
now that i a thing is molested there, the thieves
Will suffer for it!”

At mention of the camp the Indians’ glittered
eyes in a way which told that Hiram had hit the

/ >

1

they were L

-I 41";

r7

 
  

 

.  “a. y‘  ,‘. .‘, .

The Young Trail Hunterl.

 

   

 

"Fine gun hunter boy has," said the young
Blackfoot, admiring the handsome weapon
which had been fired but a few times. ,“ What
take for it?”

“It is not for sale,” said Hiram as he in-
stinctive] removed the gun from the red~skin’s
reach. ‘ You sha’n’t have it.”

The Indian seemed disposed to spring upon
Hiram and wrench the gun from his grasp, and
would dprobably have done so if one of his older
comra es had not spoken.

“ Hunter boy Blackfoot’s prisoner for awhile,”
this red-skin said. “Him Shull keep his gun if
he no try to shoot Indian. But him must go
away from here.”

Thereupon Hiram was seized by two of his
captors and hustled over the ground at a gait
in no degree agreeable.

, His blood fairly boiled in his veins. He felt
that while he was being conducted from the
camp,a lot of Indians were plundering it of
everything that would prove of value to them.
He thought of the costly guns there. the large
supply of ammunition, and the beautiful blank-
ets, to say nothing of the horses which had m“.
ried them from Helena and on whose back!
they expected soon to enjoy a buffalo-hunt.

The red plunderers would make sad havoc
among these things; they would leave but little
of value in the camp.

Hiram’s captors conducted him a long dis-
tance from the scene of his surprise before they
stapped. He fancied that he could find his way
back to camp by observing a number of trees
which he had marked with his eyes as he was

. hurried along. _

The sun had set, and he was In a most lonely
part of Grizzly Land, yet ins captors showed no
si%s of releasing him. _

,. are they going to conduct him to one of
their villa es at the north?

At lengt the red trio came to a halt.

“A stop at last thank fortune!” ejaculated
the boy hunter. ‘ They’ll probably release me
now as the cam has been ransacked ere this,
and the thieves ave got safely away with the

1 .
Hiram was right.
He was to be released, but not until the In-

dians had searched him, and removed from his
pockets his comb, pen—knife. turkey-caller, and
a'few other articles of great value to him in that
part of the country.

He could not resrst, and submitted with the
best grace he could assume.

. When he had been sufficiently robbed, the In-
dians caught him by the shoulders and began to
twirl him around until the landscape swum be-
fore his eyes, and he reeled like a drunken man.

The boy hunter was then released. ‘

He saw the Indians run off and leave him, but
he could not have followed even if he had wished
to, for the treatment to which he had been sub
jected completely unnerved him.

Unluck Hiram I”

When e recovsred sufficiently to rise, be
found that his gun had been left a few yards
away, and a moment later he clutched it once
more.

“Now for camp!” he exclaimed, as he s rung
way. but he had not creamed more than

 

a1

hundred yards before he felt that he was mov-
ing in the wrong direction.

Objects like trees and rocks were rapidly be-
ggméng indistinct. Night was fast closing about

e oy.

He turned and sou ht the camp in another
direction, and after u. ong tramp he found him-
solf at the ver spot from which he had started
after discoverlng his first mistake.

“I have madea complete circlel” fell from
his lips; as, tired and weakened by the tramp,
he leaned against a tree, ready to sink exhaust-
ed to the ground. I am lost, and that in a coun-
try utrerly unknown to me. This is what I get
for mista ing an Indian for a. wild turkey! I
wish I had given those three red-skins the con-
tents of my gun.”

Regrets were useless now.

Hiram had to accept his terrible situation,
knowing that he might never see White Buffalo

Camp again. _.._
CHAPTER VII.
LOST IN rm: Rooms.

THE three Indians who had captured and
robbed Hiram Horter were hurrying away to
rejoin their com anions, who would have gutted
the camp, if Yel owstone Oil and the boys had
gotdput in an appearance in time to prevent the

es .

For some time Hiram stood at the tree where
we left him at the conclusion of the foregoing
chapter, trying to collect his thoughts and plan-
ning for the future.

The spinning which the Indians had adminis-
tered had helped to bewilder him, and his head
felt heavy and sore.

It was almost certain that he would be com-
pelled to pass the night where he was, for to at-
tempt to find the cabin now would be folly, in-
volving him in new peril and increasing his mis-
fortunes.

He had had a number of lucifer matches in his
pockets, but the Blackfeet had appropriated
them to their own uses, as recollection and a
search told Hiram.

his mind. “ I cannot pass the night here in the
dark. This is the heart of Grilv Land. and I
will be called upon to entertain dangerous visi-
tors if I do not kindle a fire.”

lWiltthaout match or flint, how was he to strike
a 1g

After some study, Hiram plucked some cotton
from the warm lining of his hunting jacket
and placed it between two rocks, having previ-
ously gathered a few dead leaves. Then he
withdrew the shot from the barrel of his gun,
the muzzle of which he placed near the cotton.

The next moment the inflammable material
was filled with glowin
Hiram hnd discharged 5 gun among it, and
he soon fanned the light into a tiny flame. As
the fire increased in volume, he added more
light fuel, until he could contribute large sticks,
which, being dry, burned with great brilliance:

The leaping flames showed Hiram his sur-
5 roundings, grandly picturesque. but lonely. He
3 had descended into a glade thickly wooded and
‘ flanked on one side by a lofty mountain cm;

which was higher than the b9: could-u.

particles of fire, for

 

“ I must start a fire somehow,” passed through '

 

 

s

 

 

utmost ravenously
pounced t

‘ The Young  Hunters. p '

ya:-

» ‘ r l

18

 

He walked a short distance from the fire and I
encircled it, armed with his gun, for the pur-
pose of noting his surroundings. ’

When he returned it was to seat himself at
the foot of a tree to keep watch and ward till
dawn.

He su posed that he was probably ten miles
from hite Buffalo 'Csmp; but he dill. not
know, neither had he a. definite idea. in which
direction it lay.

Two hours must have passed before Hiram
saw or heard anything that interrupted the
lonesome monotony of his watch.

All of a sudden a slight noise behind him
made him turn his head, and he beheld a pair of
eyes staring at the camp-fire.

They seemed to be elevated about four feet
from the ground, and were not more than forty
yards away.

The body of the animal, whatever it was,
was not visible, but the eyes seemed to twinkle
like two mild stars above the rim of the hori-
zon.

Hiram sat and watched the orbs for many
minutes. They possessed a. strange fascination
which his situation might have increased, and
he could not remove his gaze from them. ,

All at once they vanished to reappear a little 1
further to the right, but about the same dis- 1
tance from the camp, shining with the same g
brilliancy, and still an enigma to the boy. ,

“Confound it alll I can never sit herewith
those eyes glaring at me!” at last exclaimed
Hiram. “I will treat the inquisitive brute to ,
the contents of my rifle barrel. ’ ’

So saying, the young hunter picked up his
gun and steadied his nerVes for a. shot.

If the animal should prove deer he might -
secure a good supper, and ‘his Lug tramp and 
weariness had sharpened his appetite. ‘

Loud and clear, reverberatim; on every side,
the crack of Hiram’s rifle lung out when he ,
pressed the trigger.

In an instant the gleaming eyes disappeared,
and an exclamation of victory fell from the

boy’s lips.

‘I ency that I’ve put a stop to some
animal’s curiosity,” he said as he reloaded his
gun before he stirred from his tracks.

His first move was to glide cautiously for-
ward, and he soon came upon a beautiful young
fawn which lay pierced between the eyes, and
consequently quite deed. _

Hiram forgot his Situation fora. moment as
he gazed proudly upon the results of his shot;
but he soon proceeded to busmess and out
several juicy steaks from the hind-quarters,
nfv’er which action be secured the carcass as
best he could from the wolvss. _

If he had borne it to camp the wolves might
have scented it there, and given him much
annoyance. I ,

A few minutes later Hiram sat in the ruddy
glare of his camp—fire broiling a piece of venison
which his appetite craved. Qf course he would
be compelled to devour it Without salt, but he
did not think of this while‘the tempting hunk
was cooking to his satisfaction.

eed we say that the hungry boy fell to
when his judgment pro-
donol v 1

themes

1 grimly to himself.

He also with the zest of a hungry hunter, but
seldom looking; up from the chip which served
him for a plate.

“One can almost afford to be lost in the
Rookies to enjoy a supper like that,” exclaimed
Hiram when he had finished the repast. “I
shall have a splendid breakfast when the time
Congas if the wolf and the bear do not molest
me.

It was a. long while till dawn. and many
strange scenes might take place before then.

Having satisfied his hunger. Hiram settled
back once more against the tree to resume the
lonlg aind dreary watch which the fawn had dis-

ur we .

Suddenly a lonely howl came to his ear like
the faint echo of a vary distant cry.

“ Wolves!” ejaculated the boy, quickly inter-
preting the sound, and he began to heap sticks
upon the camp-fire until it blazed up with ten"-
fold brightness, and threw its glare further into
the depths of the glade. r

The wolf’s howl was speedily followed by
another and still another, each succeeding one
increasing in distinctness, telling Hiram that the
animals were approaching, and warning him
to be on his gear . I

Presently the defiles of the mountain at his
back so mod to swarm with wolves. .

Hiram u on sevsral occasions had obtained
glimpses o the huge gray wolf of the Rocky ‘
Mountains, and lie lmew th :t it was no pleasant
visitor to the hunter’s camp. Yellowstone 011
had told him that the gra wolf was once
scattered over the whole of orth America to _
the Gulf of Mexico; now he is not to be found
until one reaches the vast prairies of the West or
the slopes of the Rockies. In the South, on the
plains of Sonora. and New Mexico, the wolf is
ulmost black; but as one advances toward the

, Arctic circle the color changes to grey, until in ’

the further North the prevailing hue is white.
It was the gray wolf, then, that was rushinF

through the mountaingulchcs toward Hiram s

lonely camp. The boy stood erect with a. de- ,

‘ termined countenance'turned toward the pack

and the gun clutched firmly by both hands.
“ I guess I’m in for it,” he murmured, smilinfi
“The mountain pests shal
pay for their inquisitiveness if they venture
too near.”

Five minutes later he knew from certain
sounds that the entire pack, which must have
consisted of several hundred wolves, had found
the carcass of the fawn. By means of a stout
cord, the only thing the Indians had left in his
pockets, he had drawn the body up to a bough
beyond reach of the wolves’ teeth, and the mad
animals were now leaping at it‘amid howls and
yelps that made the scenea perfect bedlnm. .,

Hiram could just See the swaying masses, and
once or twice he was disposed to send atball and
a charge of buckshot among them; but he with-
held his flre for a desperate emergency which
he felt was near at hand. '

At last one wolf, more agile than hil com-
panions, caught the fawn. and the following
moment Hiram’s breakfast dropped into the
center of the pack. I _ ‘
oer, course it disappeared in the twmklin, z of
an 8. ‘ , /

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

’ x

l 14 I . The Young Trail Hunters.

The boy hunter knew what had happened,
and uttered an exclamatlon of rage.

“They’ll pay their respects to me next,”he
murmured. "Well, I’m ready for them.”

Having despatched the carcass, the still fam-
ished pack turned to the camp-fire, and Hiram
was soon surrounded by wolves.

Everywhere he saw their glaring eyeballs and
savage visages. The leaders approached the
fire as near as they dared, where they sat on
their haunches like dogs, and watched him with
eager eyes.

The young New Yorl er did not let the fire
burn down for a moment. He often replen-
ished it with the fuel he had gathered prior to
the wolves’ arrival, and saw them shrink from
the increasinv light.

To be watched in a wild country and at night
by three hundred mad wolves is not a pleasant
situation to contemplate, much less to endure.
What if Hiram’s wood should give out?

Whenever the leaping blaze fell earthward
for a moment. the wolves would contract their
horrid circle. thus telling the lost boy hunter
that his safety depended on a bright fire.

“It’s an all night job. I see,” Hiram was
forced to observe after several hours of his un-
' Eleasantrexperience. Will my wood hold out?

hat is the question.”

He looked at his watch and noted the hour.
It was exactlv midnight, the loneliest part of a
night in the Rockies.
b1‘Foli‘ir hours stretched between him and day-

ea .

His stock of fuel had already dwindled to an
insignificant heap, which state of aflairs the
wolves seemed to notice, and if Hiram did not
mistake the language of their eyes, they ex-
pected to conquer before long.

From that moment the boy harbored his
wood, but the time came when he threw on his
last stick. Then he stepped back and watched
it burn with an expression of despair on his

ace. ,

The last faggot did not last long. When it
broke and fell apart on the glowing coals, Hiram
started as if a. ghostly voice had pronounced his

oom.

He saw the wolflsh circle contract a ain. Be-
yond it lay plenty of fuel; within, not ing more
that he could burn.

Nothing?

If he could hold out another hour, daylight
and his gun would drive the wolves away.

Hiram suddenly divested himself of his hunt-
ing jacket which he threw upon the fire. The
lining had given him a light and the garment
itself should perpetuate it.

The fire caught the jacket eagerly. and_leap-
ing up once more, sent the disappointed animals
Ibrin lng back.

"Not yet, my grey devils!” grated Hiram.
“I will sacrifice all my clothin to cheat you
out of the meal you want; then l’ll try the vir-
tue of powder and ball on your bodies. ’

The coat lasted longer than the boy hunter
anticipated. It was a beautiful garment, made
expressly for the present hunting trip, and its
owner, we may be sure, parted with it with
man regrets.

’  onld daylight never comet

 

 

As the jacket fell back burned aWay, and the
light dropped once more, the wolves came for-
ward more determined than ever.

Fire would subdue them no longer; their eyes
told Hiram this.

The haggaw that the last hour had come,
and the t streaks of dawn had not yet ap-
peared on the sky. -

He did not retreat, but stood erect in the
contracting circle with his gun ready for the
death battle.

On, on came the snapping, snarling pack.

Hiram raised his weapon and poured a charge
of buckshot into the masses before him. then
wheeling before the smoke had cleared away.
fie sent a rifle ball through the head of anothe r

rate.

The pack drew ofl' for a moment, during
which time Hiram reloaded. Again be repeated
the dose just administered. and was about to
deliver the third volley, when several loud
shouts reached his ears.

The wolves drew back and pricked up their

ears.
“Saved! thank heavenl” said Hiram fer-
vently.

 

CHAPTER. VIII.
A amzznrmsr AND wan rr amour.

HmAM‘s rescuers, who turned out to be Yel-
lowstone Oll and Jack, had found him in the
nick of time.

The lost boy hunter answered the shouts with
an exclamation of joy, and a moment later the
wolves received-the contents of two repeating
rifles which stretched a score of them dead and
wounded on the ground.

The remainder followed by the last bullets
Hiram carried in his belt, sought safety in

in ht.

%‘ How’s the camp?” was the rescued youth’s
first question when 011 and Jack stepped over
the dead wolves. and showed themselves to him
in the light of his dyin fire.

“ It’s all ri ht now, ut it war in a. bad flx
when we got ack,” answe ed the guide.

Hiram held his breath, not daring to proceed
further.

“ We got back just in time to prevent a lot of
Blackfeet from carrying 01! everything valu-
able,” said Jack. “They had full possession of
White Buffalo Camp, and were in the act of
plundering it. We gave them seVeral volleys
which made them gut ofl without ceremony.
Three were hurt, I t ink. for we did not aim to
kill, as that would have opened a deadily war,
something we do not want while we remain
here you know.”

“C‘ertainly we do not. I am glad that the
cam is safe.” .

“ he red-skins carried no a, few things, and
two horses and one mule, Jim the Kicker.”

“He'll kick some of them sky-high, too,”
grinned Oll. “They couldn’t have taken a
worse rize than that crittur. Just wait till he
getsafiickin’ fit on him, Hi, an’ ef an Icahn
don’t sail through the air you can use old el-
lowstone for ahitchin’- 0st. We’ll go back to
, White Bufl’ler now. mm the look of things

 

ave... N..—

,.};‘a  .. ‘

 

T J t?

 

vi. ‘5

 . “a!

 

}
i
i
7

The Young Trail Hunters.

’round here, we didn't come a moment too
soon.”

“Indeed you did not,” l‘i‘pllfld Hiram, grate-
fully, as in company with Jack and the guide
he set out for the camp. which a short time be-
fore he did not expect to see again.

During the journey back the boy hunter told
the stor of his capture, not omitting a full ac-
count 0 the decoy turkey by which he had been
lured from the cabin.

Yellowstone Oll listened with an expression
between a smile and a frown.

“That war an old Blackfoot trick.” he said,
much to Hiram’s disgust. “They tried it on
me once up on. Maria’s river; but I got my
turkey, all the same, an’ he didn t wear feathers,
either I”

Contrar to Hiram’s expectations he was not
reproved or deserting the camp. Yellowstone
Oll seemed to make allowance for a young

1/

‘ the door down between the upright posts, ef-

fectuallv blocking up the opening and captur-
ing the bear.

The building of such a trap occupies much
time. Yellowstone 011 an erintended opera-
tions, and the boys worked 'ke wood-choppers
under his instructions.

When the trap was finished a piece of meat
scnted with burnt honeycomb was fastened to
the bait stick, and every thing nicely adjusted
for the expected victim.

The bear is a dear lover of honey. and will at

l
any time risk his neck for the sweet morsel.

hunter’s enthusiasm, recalling. perhaps,the days .

:vhen he first played Nimrod among the mono-
ams.

Hiram’s safe return to camp was hailed with
joy by Tom and Rocky Dave, to whom, of
course, he had to narrate his adventures.

“ We didn’t follow the red-skins, Hi, because
we knew they hadn’t you. After a long _hunt
Oll struck your trail and he and Jack took it 36),
leaving Dave and 1’ to guard t. e camp. _e
heard a turkey out there in the bush, but it
wasn’t the breed that hoodwmked

ou for .;

He is ever on the lookout for bee-trees, and woe
to the hive if he can get one of his paws into it.
He has been caught following a honey bee
through the forest with the pertinacity of a
human bee hunter, and oftentimes he is re-
warded by finding a feast of sweetness that
throws him into ecstwsies.

Yellowstone Oll expressed himself as being
sure of catching the bear, and the trapobuilders
returned to camp with great expectations.

Night came on, with its story-telling hour,
and posed pleasantly to the tenants of the
camp on the anks of the Medicine.

The first streaks of daylight found them on
the way ‘0 the trap.

‘f We’ve got him. sure enough!” suddenly ex-
claimed Tom. whose eyes were the first to no-
tice that the trap had been sprung.

“That trap an’ the smell of hone always

Rocky brought it down with his r' e, and gets Old Ephraim,” answered 0]], wit asmile;
brought it into camp. You got back just in ‘ and the party soon stood before the pen, which

time (or we’re going to catch a grizzly.”
Hiram opened his eyes.

“ I see that I have astonished you,” continued which he had carried from on mp.

undoubtedly contained a hear.
The guide now uncoiled a. long stout rope
One and 0

Tom; “but by to-morrow mornirg we’ll own a. it he fastened around the trunk of a tree near
live grimly, and he will not be caught by our by, and then approached the trap with anoose

forty pound Newhouse either.” _
Hiram’s curiosity was of course exmted.

i

dangling from is hand.
“NOW,” he said, glancing at Rocky Dave,

The hunting-party h (1 carried on horseback I “ 0 en the pen and let Old Ephraim out.”

from Helena steel tr ps of all. kinds from the
small muskrat trap to the formidable Newhouse

whose jaws spread sixteen inches, and is capa- the

bio of holding the largest bear. _
But this “ bear-tamer” was not to be used m
the capture of the grizzly whose frequented
trail the hunters of the previous day had dis-
covered about a mile from camp, and at a place
where nobody expected to find a. single track.
A trap of another kind was to be prepared
for the bear an?s alto: breakfast preparations
ere made fori erec ion.
wHaving repaired to the trail, the bear-trap-
rs proceeded to erect a pen wh‘ch was made
B; driving a number of stout stakes into the
earth. When finished, the inclosure measured
nine feet deep, three feet wide and four feet
high, and was ample enough to accommodate
the largest grizzly. The trap thus far looked
like a log cabin. for the top had been built in
with the sides. The back was well shut up and
rendered strong, and two posts were set up at
the entrance. At the latter end. in a manner
which cannot be described without an actual
diagram of this formidable bear pen, a strong
sliding door was fixed. .
When the trap was set, this door remained
iaed above the entrance. but a slight deflec-
on of the trigger from its notch would send

0

he amateurs started back amazed.
Wags the bear to be actually turned loose upon

in.
:‘Don’t think I’m going to play the fool,”
said 01]. divining their thoughts. “We can’t
handle the b’ar while he’s in the pen, so we’ve
got to let him out to get a whack at him. Stand
baclk,”my lads, for he may come out with a
men.

it is needless to say that the amateur bear-
hunters withdrew to what they‘called a safe
distance, nor that they stood ready with rifles
cocked, ready if not very eager to receive the

pre .

Yellowstone 011 had taken up his station at
one side of the door. His onl was on was the
sheathless knife stuck in his buc skin belt.
His hands held the double-strength lasso, whose
noose he was ready to throw over bruin’s head.

Rocky Dave had gone to the rear of the trap,
from whence the door could be raised without
much difficulty, and awaited the old guide‘s
s: a

formance, Let the grizzly out.”

The guide was seen to brace himself more
firm] as the door shot upward.

“ he bearl the bear!” cried Jack. '

At that moment. with the fiercest of growls '

r

l. 
“ 11 right, Rocky! I’m ready for the per- :

 

16 ' rile Young Trail Hunters.

 

and a lavish display of teeth, an Immense ' ward the tree, knife in hand, for the purpose or

grizzly bounded from the trap.

The three boys instinctively recoiled.

Oll threw the lasso, or more tproperly, drop—
ped it, over the elevated head 0 the bear as he
cleared the threshold of the tra , and then
sprung aside as the caught brute w eeled to at-
tack him.

The lasso tightened as Old Ephraim, catching [

sight of the ys, dashed toward them, thus
bringing himself to the end of his tether.
A loud laugh rung from Oil’s lips as the
ly began to claw at the choking noose with
e desperation of a sufl;'ocatin(gl person.
“ That rope’s thar to sta , oI grdl” he called
out to the bear, now mad ened yond descrip-
tion. “ You might as well try to claw off the

' _ collar of fate.”

‘ V- in asecond.

For some minutes the grimly continued to
eagend his rage and stren th on the noose; but
an denly desisting. he ma e a dash for the tree
to which the other end of the lasso had been
made fast previous to his capture.

Jack, Tom and Hiram raised their rifles.

“ Don’t shoot him yet i” cried Yellowstone 01],
springing forward. “ Let’s see all the fun we
can. I haven’t caught a grizzly this way tor a
eoon’s e.”

By th time the grizzly had reached the tree,
and begun his attack on the lasso.

“Lookl”suddenl ejaculated Tom. “‘ He has
loosened the r0 . eavensl he will be at large
ow is the time—”

’ Tom’s sentence was cut short by an exclama-
tion from Yellowstone 011.
The grizzly had uniastened the rope and was

at largel

“ It s my fault !” said the guide. “ I ought to
be kicked for not 'ving the rope another coil.
Thar goes the b’ar, at I ll stop him i”

The rifles of the amateur hunters were at
their shoulders, but they did not fire at the re-
treating animal for the old guide had thrown
himself before them.

The grizzly, unwilling to stand and fight, was
making at through the woods with the noose
still over his head, and dragging the lasso be.
hind hi.

, Yellowstone Oll bounded after him.

A few bounds brought the Rocky Mountain

ide u to the loose end of the rope, which he
frked rom the ground and proceeded to wrap
around a. tree that stood near by.

This action instantly checked the bear'sspeed.
He wheeled with a growl 0t fury, and dashed
straight at his foe.

But 011 had secured the rope to the tree. and
was beyond reach of the terrible claws when

"I ‘ bruin reached the spot.

.The escape and daring recapture was the work
of a minute, during which the boy hunters had
held their breath.

i‘ Now, thar‘s our h’arl” said the guide, oint-
ing proudly at t e monster which stood g arin
at the party. “ It dossn’t seem (air to shoo

‘ him down as he stands—"

 

“It isn’t fair!” interrupted Jack. “ He’s help-
Isle and”at our mercy. Give him a chance for

11!
“Hide it)" and Yellowstone Oll sprung to.

severing the lasso at a single cut.

Bruin eyed him until he had nearly reached
the tree, when he dashed at him With open jaws
and a howl of vengeance.

Yellowstone Oll turned from his errand to
fight for his life, for the mad beast was upon

1m

“I war just goin’ to give you a show,” he
said to the bear which had raised on his hind
, feet to embrace him. “But, since you won‘t

take a favor, I’m ready to give you the knife. "
g In another moment the two would have met
I if the three New York ho a, alarmed for the
- Euide’s safety and at rea risk of wounding
* im, had not fired a vol eélat the bear.

Sorely wounded, Old phraim dropped on
his feet, and Pardee whirled and severed the

re .
Bellow git, or ii ht !”

was about to advance toward his assailants,
when a ball from Rocky Dave’s rifle sent him
sideways to the ground.

The last shot settled the combat, and the
trappers soon stood around the carcass of the
monster.

1 Yellowstope Olldsali‘ii) Ehache had see; its“;
arger grizz ies, an c y ave uesse t a
theirdsprize would weigh fourtegn hundred
poun . ,

As the camp boasted of no appliances for

weighing game, the party was obliged to accept

guide indorsed.

“I wonder when we are going to get a shot
ata buflaloi” asked Jack on the way back to
cam .

“ o-morrow,” said the guide.

“ Goodl Maybe I’ll find a white one.”

“ You’d better look out it you do, Jack,” re-
marked Tom. “You know what the Blackfeet
think of white buifaloes.”

“Just as if I’d let a chance to drop one on
their account slip through my fingers! No,
siree! Show me a white buflalo to-morrow,
and I’ll show you a trophy worth winning!”

Jéick always grew enthusiastic over this sub-
ec .

I! he had known what was about to happen,
he might have curbed his desires.

CHAPTER IX.
m Bmm-nuur—Jacx’s mar.

Tn southern limits of the lordly buffalo are
Northern Texas and New Mexico, while his
Northern habitat extends to the waters of the
Saskatchewan, or even into the vast and almost
unvisited region lying to the north of this great
river.

Time was when the red-man was the only
hunter of the buffalo. when the few hides taken
were dried by the squaws and used for tepees
and blankets: but since then other hunters have
come upon the scene, and whole herds annually
disappear before the echoing crack 01 the white
man rifle.

 

s _
W bin 11 Irvin once saw a herd which no
manacsoul number. gFor two days and nights

The hear was nclined to do the latter, and

the young mountaineer’s judgment, which the .

 

1
r

9r?

The Young Trail Hunters.

a»

1'!

 

the animals kept crossing Smoky Hill river In
an unbroken mass, pushing toward the rich
pasturage of the parks lying to the north. They
did not stop until they had penetrated far into
British America. At the approach of winter
they would wheel about and seek the sunny
meadows of the Rockie and the grassy plains
of Texas.

Few such herds as the one just mentioned are
seen now, although in some places the buflalo
still reigns supreme, and seems to increase in
numbers despite the rifle of the white hunter
and the wiles of wolf and Indian.

Men cross the sea to chase the wild herds over
valley and plain, and our own hunters merci-
lessly assist in the slaughter. Thousands of car-
cames are left to rot where the hunter gains his
victory, and enoulgh food to winter millions of

eopée is annna y thrown away in Buffalo

n .

This slaughter will go on until some day but
few buffaloes will be left to roam over the vast
region of the far West and North. The Cree
Indians of British America will have to seek
other food, and the savage Black feet of our own
country turn their attention to other game.

We left the young hunters of White Buffalo
Camp overjoyed at the prospect of a buffalo
hunt, and the expected sport was discussed
guring the return to the cabin from the grizzly

unt.

As every member of the company was ex-
pected to take part in the comin day’s sport,
the cabin was secretly abandone during the
night, and its contents were removed to a well
concealed cave. whose existence up to that hour
Yellowstone 011 had shared with no one.

There was no telling when the prowling
Blackfeet would return. and it was deemed best
to let them find an empty shanty and a deserted

cam .

TlFRt night the hunters rolled themselves up
in their blankets and slept on the lee side of a
mountain, without fire. The horses had been
prepared for the hunt, and everybody longed

or the dawn of another day.

When the carols of the earliest bird awoke
the iyoung New Yorkers, they dispatched the
brea fast which Rocky Dave had repared, and
announced themselves ready for tlEe hunt.

If the Blackfeet had robbed them of two
horses and one mule, they still had enough
steeds for the chase. and these were mounted
long before the sun came up.

Away went the little band, led by Yellow-
stone Oll, whose horse was an old buffalo—run-
ner. The animal seemed to share the enthusi-
asm of the crowd, and it was not long beforethe
rest of the horses caught the infection. _

About ten miles from the starting cint la
one of those beautiful parks which a ways d_-
yersify Rocky Mountain 'scenery. and wherein
the buflalo finds rich pickings and cool water._

“We’ll find them pasturin’ themselves," said
the guide. with confidence, as he replied to a
question from Tom. “Thar’s about six thou-
sand in the herd, 1 should judge. Don’t waste

{our fire on spikes (yearlings). but take in the i

at cows and shaggy bulls. You don’t know
as much about bulf’ler as your horse does. Let

the animal how pretty much his own way, an’»

 

lugh learn you all that’s necessary for you to
ow.

“ What do you think about Jack finding Old
Whit , as he calls the animal he wants?”

“ It 3 just possible that he may,” answered
Oll. “It is a fact that an old white bull buif’ler

has been seen in this kenti'y off an’ on for ten ’

years. He is big medicine to the red-skins, an’

thar’s no tellin’ what they would do to the man

that killed him if they gota chance. That bum-

ler has a heard that almost touches the ground

an’litzs as white as snow; his eyes an’ muzzle ar‘
in .

“An albino!” exclaimed Tom.

“ Yes. that’s what you’d call him. We be-
lieve out here that it’s a case of hreedin’ back to
the old stock of native cattle that got mixed 11}:
with the Kansas herds years ago; but your co -
lege men don’t believe that story.”

Tom smiled at the old guide’s frankness.

“ I never saw but one white robe an’ that war
when I first began to hunt this kentry,” contin-
ued Oll.
wanted to do something brave ct up a hunt all
by himself, an’ left the camp. 9 was gone six
weeks an’ we began to believe that a. grizzly
had finished him, when all at once he turned up
with—what do you suppose?”

“ A white buflalo—skin?”

“That’s just what the youngster had. He
wouldn’t tell how he got it nor where, but
there it was all the same, the biggest buff’ler
hide I ever saw, an’ the prettiest too for it war
as white as snow. What did the tribe do with
the young law—breaker? 1 shudder to-day when
I think of it.
for it was “ medicine,” so they held a counc'
an’ decreed that the boy should die. Now the
red chap had probably killed the buff’ler without
knowin’ anything in particular about its sacred-
ness, but that didn t excusa him.
party took him toward the nearest bufl’ler
ground. I went along for I wanted to see what
was to be d0ne. It war gettin’ warm again,
an’ the herds war comin’ down from the Saskat-
chewan kentry by thousands. We wasn’t long
fliidin’ all that war wanted. ‘

“ Wal, after a little hunti n’ our party killed a
cow an’ skinned her in a  The rest of the
herd war not molested. hen the fleshy Side
of a green hide is exposed to the sun the skin
becomes almost like iron. Them lnjuns knowed
that. They went to work an’ sewed the white
bufl’ler-shooter up in that green hide With the
raw side out an’ left him on the plain! That’s
the way they served him. I pitied the young-
ster for he showed the grit of an old brave, but
that couldn’t help him. Whewl The sun was
hot that summer an’ made me think a thousand
times of the young Shoshone sewed up in his

bufl’ler shroud on the plain, an’ at last I went , ;

back to the place out of curiosity. Thar lay
the strange coffin, hard as iron an’ something
rattled in it like peas in a dry pod. That was
the end of one white buff’ler-hunter, an’ I see
that we’ve got one in our party.” And Yellow-
stone Oll sent a swift glance toward Jack who

had caught a few words, but not the run of the .

story just finished.
“ The Indians wouldn’t serve one of us that

way if we should kill Old Whity and after- .

ward fall into their hands?” queried Tom.

3

No Injun would touch the skin ‘

“A young Shoshone Injun who '

A strong ' I

 

"I wouldn’t trust them, but we’re not likely
to run across Old Whity. I have told you the
story of youmr Red Plume because we war talk-
in' about white buffaloes. We’re goin’ down
into the park now. Look ahead an’ tell me if
you see any thing 1"

Tom turned from the guide and allowed his
gaze to roam across the vast expanse of beauti-
ful country whose boundaries they were al-
ready crossing. Far a.“ ay rose a lotty chain of
hills that looked white against the calm sky,

and between their base and the hunters a sil- .

very river coursed through the park. It was
the pasture round of the buffalo, and the re-
sort of elk, eer, and antelcpe.

Sheltered from the cold winds that sweep the
lower plains, these meadows, or “ parks ” as
they are called, enjoy a splendid climate which
tempts man as well as beast, and they often be-
come the hunters’ camp while he preys upon
the noble game they afford.

Such, in brief, was the hunting-ground Yel-
IOWStone Oil and his companions were enter-
ing. The sun was peeping above the eastern
horizon, drinking in tho pearly dew that hung
from the long grasses, and the hunters involun-
tiall-ily unslung their arms amid exclamations of

e ig it.
“ What is that dark mass yonder?” suddenly

asked Jack pointing toward a well defined line ‘

of blackness far away.
“ Buffaloes,” repli> (1 Rocky Dave who had
noticed it long before the young amateur spoke.

“ There is always game in this park when you ‘

can’t find buffalo you are sure of chasing up
some antelope.”

When Yellowstone Oll had pronounced the
discovery a herd of buffaloes, he moistened his
finger with saliva, and held it for a moment
above his head.

“ We must change our course,” he said a mo-
ment afterward having ascertained the direc-
tion of the wind, and the entire party went
galloping through the rich grass toward one of
the flanks of the grazing herd.

The experienced buffalo-hunter knows that it
will not do to attempt to approach a herd of
grazing buffaloes vuth the wind. The move-
ment to be successful must be made from lee-
ward. and then either as swift] as an Indian
arrow flies. or with the caution of the ray
wolt that glides serpent-lilac through the ong
grass. i

The herd on this occasion numbered thous-

' ends, and seemed intent on getting a good sup-
ply of grass. A slight rise intervened between
he hunters and their prey, and the horses were
111' ed toward it at the top of their speed.
ellowstone Oll had already given the boy-
huviters their instructions.

They were to select their victims, make sure
shots, and not expose themselvss to unnecessary
dangers. Especially had he cautioned them to
beware of the rage of wounded bulls, if any such
animals should turn upon than.

"Take them just back of the fore-shoulder,
lettin’ the bullet range upward if possible,” he
said. “ That’s the only death-shot on can de-
pend on. Don’t shoot at the fore end. You
might as well fire against a monitor."

With these words in their ears the three boys

 

The Young Trail Hunters.

    

/ 1

dashed down the rise upon the herd, which until
that moment seemed totally unaware of their
presence.

A few old bulls at first cast only alook to-
ward the hunters but they soon showed signs of
stampeding, for the spikes irritated the cows by
rushing to their sides for protection, and the
whole herd thus became alarmed.

Jack, Hiram, and Rocky Dave rode together
upon one part of the herd; Yellowstone Oil and
Tom charged the other.

As there was no need of silence, the hunters
set up loud shouts, and soon came up with the
herd, which had started off toward the river
flowing between the grazing ground and the
mountains.

Jack’s horse, bein the best runner, soon came
alongside of a fat. umbering cow, which was
brought down hv a show from the saddle.

The fleeing bufialoeskirked upa terrible cloud
of dust, which for a time almost blinded the
hunters.

It was no trouble for the boys to get separated
‘ from each other: indeed it was the easiest hing

in the world, and J ar-k had no cause for surprise

when he found himself riding after an old bull
: which he had wounded, and far from his com-
' panions.

The wounded buflalo kept on the edge of the
head, and put the powers of Jack’s horse to the

e:

The two shots which the boy had adminis-
l tered had taken effect. One, as could be seen,
would soon prove fatal, for blood was flowing
, from the bull‘s nostrils, a sure Sign that life for
‘ him was near its close.

Eager to close in upon the brute and finish the
combat, Jack urged his horse forward with
word and spur.

The gallant runner shared his enthusiasm, for
he strained every nerve in the exciting race.
Jack knew that his friends were still peppering
the herd elsewhere, for shots almost continual—
ly reached his ears.

At last he found himself nearly alongside of
the buffalo. and in order to deliver the shot
which Yellowstone 011 had told him invariably
firoved fatal, he slung his Winchester and drew

is heavy revolver for close Work.

A minute later Jack came up with the lum-
bering monster, and was leaning over to give
the coup, when the buffalo stopped suddenly,
wheeled and charged!

The trained horse realized the danger before
his excited rider could act. but the infuriated
but! “0 could not be avoided.

The boy hunter found himself falling with his
steed before he could collect his thoughts.
Struck by the lowered head of the wounded
bull. the horse was lifted bodil from the round
and sent some feet through t a air wit Jack
clinging frantically to his manel \

It was aterrible moment. '

The bo hunter picked himself up more
frightens than hurt, waile his faithful horse,

aluios disemboweled by the bison, was unable
to rise.

Having lost his revolver. Jack unslung his
rifle and looked for the buflalo, which stood
some distance away with head lowered, threat-

 

suing another charge.

   

 

  

 

 

‘ The rest or the herd had passed on, and were
fast disappearing.

All at once the bull’s legs gave way, and he
fell to the ground.

“ Thank Heaven 1” cried Jack.

The bufl’alo’s wounds had proved mortal.

 

CHAPTER X.
IN WHICH JACK ENCOUNTERS OLD WHITY.

THE relief that welled up in Jack Roberta’s
heart when he saw the old buli’alo 1y)ng dead
among the grass dyed with his own lood, can
be imagined not described.

He had provi lentially escaped the dangers of
another charge. Being on foot, he was at the
mercy of the bison, though he had resolved to
stand his ground and fight to the bitter end.

Certain that the buffalo was dead, Jack ap-
proached him, not without a good deal of cau-
tion, and soon stood over his prize.

He proved to be an enormous bull, one of the
captains of the herd thundering down the park,
folIOWed no doubt, by Yellowstone 011 and his
companions.

Jack had been deprived of his horse. The
animal had been fatally gored by the enraged
buffalo, and was then in the agonies of death.

The boy hunter went back to look after the
gallant steed. He found him very near his end,
and while Jack knelt and stroked his forehead,
he gave one gasp and expired.

All at once Jack sprung erect and turned his
face toward the mountains.

“ More buffalo, and comin this way, if I am
not mistaken!” he said alou as he listened to
the unmistakable sound of lhuflalo-hoofs. “I
wonder if the boys have turned the herd back?
Such things have happened, I believe.”

Standing beside the horse that would carr
him never more, Jack Roberts listened wit
bated breath to the sounds that the Winds bore
to his ears. ’

He knew, although not an old hunter, that a
large herd of buflaloes was rapid! nearing him,
and numerous stories of hunters eing trodden

beneath the animals’ feet rushed across his mind. 1

He already saw the vast clouds of dust dis-
turbed by the oncoming band: but still he stood
his ground like a person willing to die the hor-
rid death that threatened him.

“I must get away from here!” was forced
from his tongue by the ominous sounds that
preceded the rushing bisons. " The herd is still
a goodly distance away. It may not possess a.
lengthy front, and I may be able to gain one end
of it by starting new.” .

Forced to leave the buffalo he had killed, as
well as the home, Jack grasped his rifle more
firmly than ever, and started on the race for
life. He ran parallel with the front of the herd,
hoping to reach one of the flanks and thus es-
ca destruction.

nck exerted himself. He ran with all his
might, straining everv nerve, and constantly
kee ing “ the best foot ” forward.

A 1 the while the cloud of dust grew larger
and approached nearer, and the bellowing of
the bnflaloes added to the thunder of their
handmade 3 din utterly indescribable.

 

 

The Young Trail Hunters. r 19 V

 

Fortune seemed to take pity on and favor 1
Jack. . ‘
Punting and almost exhausted, but confident I

, of having succeeded, he halted at last beyond I
, the herd, toward which he turned expecting to 
‘ see it dash by within rifle-shot. , -
He was not disappointed, for the buffaloes '
soon came up and began to rush by not more ,
than fifty yards from the boy hunter. ,

‘ It was a grand sight for Jack, who had found 51
and mounted a little mound from which he . 1
could see over the herd. ‘ ;
What he saw appeared to be a vast, hillowy ;
Sea of animal life. As for as his vision could I
stretch he saw buffaloes pushing, gamming and ‘
crowding one another as they fled rom somein- l
visible fee. The herd seemed to stretch to the l
distant horizon, and Jack mentally congratu- i
hated himself over and over on his lucky escape. (
The Eastern lad had heard of single herds of ,
bufl iloes containing as many as three hundred 3
thousand animals; but until that time he had > J
l

l .1» “HA—l .

not believed it possible. Now he was willing to ’

believe anything.

For one whole hour Jack stood on the natural » 3
mound, fascinated, as it were, by the countless , ‘ 
hordes that constantly rushed past. He forgot - :, 7
that he held a read rifle in his hands, and r ‘
many a good shot he at slip, fortunately for the ' ‘
bisous that formed the flank of the herd.

Were all the buifaloes in the great Northwest \
rushing by?

Jack must have thought so as he watched the
‘ herd that seemed to have no and. . ‘

“ Ah! it Tom and Hi could but see / this
sightl” he suddenly exclaimed. “ If they could
stand here they would never argue’agnin that a
few more years will settle the drcm of the but-

‘ falo. There must be half a million animals in

‘ that herd. It has no end.”

For a while longer Jack continued to gaze at
the wonderful spectacle, which 'had already
grown monotonous, and he was about to leave
the mound when there burst upon his vision an
object that sent a. thrilling sensation through
his veins. ‘

The monotony of the scene had suddenly
been broken.

There was a white buffalo with the herdl
l Jack looked twice beiore he believed his eyes;

j but he had not deceived himself.

1 The famous “ medicine ” of the red tribes
was lumbering along. his snowy beard sweeping
the ground like the heard of a veteran, and his
sides anting heavily, as though age had stit-

, fened is joints. ‘
He still looked majestic, despite his dust and
sweat-covered hide, and reminded Jack of on 
old king, silvar bearded and tottering, trying to
lead his people forward. , » v
“ Mv chance for a white skin!” exclaimed the I
New Yorker, excited almost be ond control, as
he raised the rifle. which he might have emptied
With deadly effect into the herd long before.
“  told T m. that I would not let Indian super-
stition prive me of a white buflalo-skin if I

saw one. 1 “iii keep my word good.”

The old unirel ,was within easy rifle-shot,
and Jack took deliberate aim at the vital spot. '

I When the rifle cracked 01d Whity pitched ,

 

   
 
     

 

  

_ forward heavily. but managed to keep his feet,
much to the young marksnian’s sur rise.
“I’ll try you again!” muttered ack behind
.his weapon, and forthwith he sent two bullets
in rapid succession after the albino.

At the third re rt the white buflalo pitched

forward again, t is time to strike the ground,
from which he made several futile attempts to
,rise.

A loud cheer rose from J ack’s lips.

“ A white buffan so easily? I was not ex-
pecting it,” he said.

No: the boy had expected to kill Old Whity
at the end of an exciting chase, but here he lay
dying before him after three shots which had
been attended by no personal danger.

We must confess’thut Jack was a. little cha-
g'r'ned at his easy success; but he soon forgot
that, for he sprungr forward eager to deliver
the coup which would insure him the coveted
white robe.

His shots seemed tohave alarmed the bufi‘aloes,
and turned them from their course. They were

now rushing away obliquely from the straight .

line in which they had traveled, so that the
spot Where the white One had fallen was already
far removed from the flank of the herd.

, Jack reached his game in time to see it fall
over and die on the spot.

Old Whity did not possess the vitality that
belonged to the brown bull that had nnhorsed
him. Jack was glad of this, for he did not
fancy another charge by a wounded bison.

Triumph blazed in the boy Nimrod’s eyes.

He stood over one of the i’nl'ltles of the North-
west—a genuine white buffalol

He stoofied and stroked the long silvery
beard flee ed here and there with gouts of

-warm blood, and admired the benst’s strange.
7 pink eyes fixed in the stare of death. ,

- Jack saw nothing but the prize he had

obtained. It is doubtful whether he heard the

thunder of the boots or the herd which he had
, robbed of its white~bearded king.

If he had listened he might have heard noises
that were not the sounds of bu Halo-boots.

, _Eager to possess himself of the much-coveted
hide, Jack drew his skinning—knife, and went to

- Work. He labored undera' rear. disadvantage,
for he was alone; but he ad determined to
de rive the snowy buffalo of his valued coat.

, e was hard at work, and. was making good

' headwa at his task, when he heard a noise
wonder ully like an Indian “ugh” that made
him raise his eyes.

The next instant the skinning-knife almost [

dropped from his hand, and he started back to

The Young Trail Hunters.

speck in the West. “Maybe I have got into a

snap after all.”

He continued to watch the savage, who did
not entirel disappear.

By and y the boy saw it number of objects
advancing across the park toward him. As
they came nearer they developed into mounted
Indians who were urging their horses over the
ground with rent rapidity.

Jack had a ready SeiZed his rifle, and as he
took his station between his buflalo and the red
Arabs, his lips met resolutely and ‘ his eyes
i seemed to emit sparks of fire.

1‘ Suddenly the Indian band scattered, but a

moment later, so near that their painted visages

could be observed, they were galloping around

, the white boy in a wild circle.

1 Their intentions could not bekept in the dark.

“ White boy shoot the Great Medicine,” cried
one red-skin who stood erect on his horse Willi

. bow and arrow in his hands. “Him shall lie
wrapped in the white skin an’ left to the sun nn’
the wolves!”

“We’ll see about that,” grated Jack, defiant-

i ly, as he suddenly lifted his rifle and covered

‘ the Indian. “I am not entirely defenseless as
you will discover if on advance nearer.”

; A number of wi d (yells was the response,

1 and every horse dashe straight at the young

l Nimrod.

' “ I am doomed, but here goes for one Indian!”
muttered Jack.

{ At the same moment be pressed the trigger,
and the red-skin who had sentenced him to the
most terrible of deaths pitched backward from
his horse.

I It was Jack’s first and last shot, for before

, he could “cover” another living target, he was

' surrounded.

A dozen red hands shot forward, and he was
jerked across the half-skinned buffalo and treat-
ed in a manner that assured him of a speedy
doom.

All this for shooting a snow—white buffalo!

Jack had already repented of his boasts.

CHAPTER XI.
mum’s WILD STEED—THE HIDE cos-rm.
WHILE Jack was meeting with the adven-
tures we have just described, certain other
members of the hunting-party were having thril-
lin times.
fter losing Jack by reason of his pursuit of
the first wounded bull, Hiram and Rocky Dave,
the boy mountaineer, kept on steadily after the
plunging herd, eager to secure two noble ani-
mals which they had selected for destruction.

 

 

stare into the countenance of e. thunderstruckl' They be”ve that 53‘3" “'33 able to take
c

Indian seated upon a heated horse.
, Jack had not heard the red buffalo-hunter ‘
gallop up, which rendered his surprise all the
more complete.

“White boy kill medicine, eh?" queried the
red-skin, eying the partly skinned buffalo.

“ It looks like it, I should say,” was the re- 
spouse. i

Without replying, the Indian spoke excitedly ‘
to his horse, which immediately bore him
' swiftly away. ,
¢ . i “ That means something,” murmured Jack,
_ ; suing after the red-skin. who was 3001: a flying

are of himSell’, anal never dreamed that the
ambitious boy hunter would fall in with a lot of
roving Indians who held the life of a white man
as a thing of little value. '

_While riding along the outside of the herd, I
. Hiram had succeeded in planting two balls into

the body of his bufl’alo; but the animal did not
drop. A number of bufl'aloes were between the
boy and his victim and kept him from deliver-
5 the coup, or death-she , with his heavy re-
volver. . -
Unwilling to give up the chase, which by this

time had Krown to be very exciting, Hiram kept

  

 

 

  

 

,éj"
o
L.
g
_l

 

stood the Situation as though he was endowed
with human understanding.

“Hurrah! that shot brought the old codger
dowu!” shouted Hiram, when, after delivering
the third shot, he saw his game totter as it
ready to fall.

The can mountaineer Was at his side. ‘

“I ear t at I’ve missed my bull entirely,”
Dave said. “A moment ago I saw him with
blood running down his fore shoulder, now I
cannot see him at all.”

“That is too bad. But look yonder at my
buffalo,” was Hiram’s response.

“ He would have fallen before this if the but-
faloes that surround him had not held him
up. He is down at last, though, and the hard
is rushing over him.”

It was true that Hiram’s animal had fallen,
the third shot having brought him to the

ground.

“ As I have lost my first I must try another,”
and Rocky Dave spurred his horse alongside a

lendid animal on the outside of the herd, and
Eiglivered a shot from the saddle that brought
him at once to his knees.

“ Bravo !” cried Hiram, who had witnessed
tge shot from the spot where he had halted for
t e purpose of waiting for the herd to pass over
his buffalo. “I believe I shall have to follow
your example, Rocky. My rifle is not empty.

will pump several more balls into the herd.”

The next moment Hiram's repeater was at
his shoulder, and he was firingrrapidly into the
plunging mass of bufialoes. he youth had a
marksman’s eye, and several of his shots would
have won the admiration of old sportsmen.

The only animal brought down by this rapid
firing was a spike which was shot through the
heart and dropped in its tracks, while a mag-
nificent cow was so hard hit that a short pur-
suit would have secured her.

A bufl’alo-chase always heats one’s blood, and
the excitement tingles eve? nerve.

You reek not of dan er, ear flies from your
heart, and you see 0 y the noble game before

on.
y It is not until the wounded animal turns u It
you with lowered head and blood-shot eyes t at
ou discover that a buffalo-chase is not unat-
nded by dange that the shaggy beast some
times turns the tab es and becomes the hunter.

Many an ambitious amateur has perished on
the field of his first, and last, hunt, and that
before be had secured a Single tro by; others
owe their lives to their horses, whic have been
brought up to the chase, and are capable of out-
witting the hard-hit bison, and of avoiding his
maddened charge.

A horse of this kind was the animal ridden
b Hiram. The boy had paid a good price for.
him at Helena on the ground that he was an
old hunter, and future event did not belie the
guarantee.

Wounded buffaloes do not always chargeCi
but the one first shot by Hiram, the same ol
fellow over whom his companions leaped after
he had fallen, no sooner found himself left be-

The Young Trail Hunters. . l 21“

on closel followed by Rocky Dave whose { d 1 y I
ste’ed, anyexperienced buffalo—runner: under— ! H mm ha waited qu say for the herd '0

pass on, and the first inkling he had of the old

stager’s intentions, was acharge so sudden and .

impulsive that his face instantly grew white
with fear, and he tried to turn his horse aside.

was quicker still. The horse realized the dan-
ger, and sprung to_one side, thus fortunately
avoiding the infuriated beast, which passed
cLeer beyond, but soon came back to the
c urge.

The buffalo came on with fire flashing from
his eyes, and determined to put a speedy end to
the combat.

Hiram presented his rifle, but the only target
seen was the woolly head, at which he con-
cluded not to fire, as the shots would be only
thrown away.

In a moment, almost before the boy could
collect his scattered thoughts, the monarch of
the lane was upon him.

_ith a wild snort Hiram’s horse attem ted to
avoid the brute as he had done before, ut in
domg so he presented his side to the buffalo
at a moment when the danger was most im-
minent.

In the twinkling of an eye Hiram felt himself
lifted from the saddle. He heard a cry of her-

tor of the charge, and the next moment he

neck of the buffalo!
His horse, fortunately unhurt by'the animal’s
charge, although the girth had been broken and

times from the scene, with fore feet planted
firmly in the earth, and neck arched and eyes
flashing, he glared at the bison.

We need not say that a cry of horror rose
from Hiram’s lips as he alighted on the buffalo,

and instinctively buried his hand in the matted

wool.

“ Help'l hel l” aled from his throat, for as
he struck the 
carried forward with what seemed the speed of
the wind. _

Instantly Rocky Dave wheeled his horse and
darted in pursuit.

“Hold fasti" he called out to Hiram. “If
you dro you may break a. bone, or get tram-
pled to eathl” .

Hiram made a reply. but his words did not
rech Rocky Dave, as they were going With the
wm . '

perately wounded; but he still possessed a great
deal of strength, enough. perhaps, to let him
re'oin the her still in sight m the distance.
ocky Dave followed as fast as his, horse

could hear him onward.

“ I am coming, H11” he shouted. “Loan
over to the left, and let me get a death-shotl” ._

With a murmured prayer for the success 'of
the _young.mountaineer’s shot, Hiram obeyed
the inJunotion, and a moment later Rocky Dave
dashed alongside. _

'The buffalo was rushing onward at thextop of
his speed, but Dave leaned toward him and

 

side.

Hiram held his breath for the report. ‘

_,\

 

Quick as the frightened boy was, the buffalo ,

ror from Rock! Dave. who had been a specta- I
alighted not on the ground, but upon the shaggy I v

the saddle lost, plunged away, but some dis- T ‘

of his strange steed, he was,

The .forced rider felt that his buffalo was des- ‘

ithrut h v ' h‘  "
{Egg-1m he turned to vent his anger upon hill s a eavy revolwsi almost against is very. ‘ ‘

 

   

 

22 The Young Trail Hunters.

1
It came M7 length, dun but deadly, End he Tom reported for himself and companion
knew at once that the bullet had been driven Yellowstone 01], that they had met with good
home. success, having killed flve buflaloes before quit‘

The bufi’alo executed several bounds after the ting the herd, ,
shot, but he was at death’s door. A stream of H That, beats us, Tom ” observed Rocky Dave,

. blood poured from his nostrils, and his logs re- after a 51y giance at iram. “We got three
{used to support the weight 01 his hOdy any animals, but one of them came nigh getting a
onger. bow”

Despite these Signs 0‘ hPPI‘OEChihg death, Hiram essayed a. smile, but he could not
vaky Dave delivered another shot just as the laugh, for his heart was full of anxiety for Jack,
1’1“th feu- and Dave, seeing this, did not continue the joke.

As the brute staggered, Hiram, who had been Guided by the boy ranger, the part moved
“mi-dug for the moment, threw himself to the toward the spot where Jack had been ast seen.
ground and Sprung back. The dead horse was soon afterward discov-

“Free, and savedl I have to thank you for ered’ and the boys’ fears for Jack’s safety “a-
this!” he said to Rocky Dave, who met him creased until Yellowstone Oll struck the trail
with a smile as he {Same UP- that led through the grass. _

The boy mountaineer leaped from his horse “ Look yonder!” suddenly exclaimed Rocky
and “V8 his hand ‘0 Hh'am- Dave, whose gaze had been riveted for some

“ “Chou the 01d fellow was 8M" to carry time on acertain object far ahead. “If I’m
goualong ways” he said. with a. glance at the not mistaken, I see a. bufl’aio carcass on the

ufl’a'o already dead, for the revolver had done plain,”
its work. “Yonder is your horse, but we’ll All turned their eyes in the direction indi-
ha‘m 1’0 Tide b86k for the Emma” cated by the boy’s outstretched hand, and grad-

Hiram looked and saw his horse which had uany saw the object that had attracted him.
followed Rocky Dave in his exciting pursuit of The horses were now urged forward, and the
the buffalo. When he called him the animal bunting party, soon gazed from their saddles
came forward, and Hiram once more held the upon the freshly-skinned carcass of a. bufl’alo

 

reins- , that lay on the grass in the glare of the warm
“We Will go back and hunt for the rifle and , noonday sun.
the saddle together," continued the mountaineer. ,‘ N Indians have been here.” said Rocky Dave.

flBy the time we get buck here we will 5% ointing to unmistakable signs of horses’ hoofs
something of our friends. I wonder if Jack , m the grass,
found his white buflalo in this herd?” I “ Indians?” echoed Hiram and Tom. “Then

The boys now returned to the spot where , Jack—l’

Hiram had been hnhorsedi and found hOth I Asudden exclamation from Yellowstone Oll
Saddle and rifle in the grass. , broke the sentence.

The hmken girth “‘85 speedily mended! and I “ What did I tell you about the young Shosh-
Blram had just mounted '0 his perch again 1 one that killed a white buffalo, Tomi" asked the
when a faint shout came from the south. guide, glancing at Tom. “ Didn’t the red skins

“ Here they come!” vxclaimed the young New sew him up in a. fresh hide an’ leave him to the
Yorker. catching sight of horses that Were rap- n v

' “Indeed they did, on; but—”

idly nearing them. “We shall now hear what ‘
“That’s just what they’ve done with Jack.

success crowned the eflorts of Tom and J nck.”
“Some one is still missing, for if my eyes do ‘ That bufl’ler had a white skin when he war in
not derive me but two ersons are coming up.” i runnin’ condition. We must let the him go
said ROCkS’ Dave: While 0 gazed M the hOI‘SG- ‘ an’ hunt for the hide. Thar’ll be found ack—
men. ' I mind 1 tell you.” I
The two boys watched the will?“ With 1"' The faces of two of the nulde’s listeners grew
creasing eagerness until they discovered that white with fear as he thus delivered his opin-
r Jack was not one of the party. ions; but they were not permitted to give ex-
Yellowstone 011 and Tom rode up, and drew pression to their thoughts, for 011 dashed away
rein in front of th“ anxious pair‘- as it he had suddenly sighted an object on the
. “Where's Jack?” was the question that fell , plain.
simultaneously from Tom and Hiram’s lips. If the two youn amateurs bad glancad up-
‘ ' “That’s What none of US 8(59005 to know.” l'e- ward the would ave seen seVeral dark mov-
anded 0"- “The ho? War With you 1655. able spec sthatseemed to_swerp thesky. These
Rocky. Whar did you leave him?” I were vultures, the disgusting scavengers of the
The boy mountaineer replied by detailing lains, and the objects which the guide had no-
Jack's pursuit of the wounded bull until he dis— good.
appear9d from View; hid by Clouds of dust and Yellowstone 01] led the party three miles at a
the rolling ground. , swift gallop. and when he drew rein, it was to
Since that moment the young bufiaio’nunter , le 1p to the ground and stoop over a reddish ob-
‘ had not been seen. , , ‘ floor that ssessed an oblong shape not unlike a
Tom and Hiram 50:3th the Plain Vt'lth '3 cofilii. Fggm several interstices alongabadl
great d9“ Of aDXietY! but 011,3 features ‘hd “015 sewn seam, bunches of white hair protrude ,
betray mUCh hlarm- 1 and rendered the grates ue oi ect recognizable.
However, it was deemed a wise move to bunt : n Here’s the whlte sk u an’ ere’s Jack. too.”
for-780k. Who might 118“ been c'mqhered by *1 exclaimed Yellmwstone 91! looking up at hi!
w untied buffalo, and who at that moment companions aghe drew his knife,
misbt be lying helpleas wmeWhere in the grass. 1 “ Dead?”

 

«aw—.—m_.

The Young Trail Hunters.

23

 

“Wal, I guess not!”

Every hunter now sprung to the ground and
gathered round the sewed up hide, the seam of
which the guide’s knife was cutting.

In a very brief time, the fast hardening skin

was parted, and yellowstone 011 he] ed Jack ‘

from what might have proved a terrih ect flin.

The warmth of the hair coupled to the stench
arising from the hide had almost suffocated
Jack. who was found insensible, and of course
unable to return thanks for his deliverance.

A loud cheer soared Skyward when the old
guide announced that the young white hufl’alo-
hunter would soon he himself again.

Jack recovered in due time and related his
adventures to a breathless crowd.

It seems that after his capture by the Indians
he was compelled to skin his prize in whose hide
he was inclosed, and carried to the spot Where
he was found.

The most vindictive of his persecutors was
Red Bear. the Indian who saved him from the
wounded stag, an event already recorded.

“ Well. I got the white skin after all l” finished
Jack; “ but it will be a. long time ere I attempt
to procure another.” .

“ I should think so,” replied 011.
would have made short work of you.”

“ The sun

 

CHAPTER XII.
rm: mm or ran HARD-HEADS.

THE fortunate rescue from the buflalo-hide
cofiio terminated the adventures of the day,
and. ladend with the skins of all the animals
killed during the chase, along With a supply of
meat, the hunters resought the ramtp. _

The place had not been visited tiring their
absence. if it had been, the Indians would
have discovered nothing of value, for the goods
had been removed to a place of safety prior to
the beginning of the hunt.

Jack’s whine hide was staked to the ground
along with the other skins to be dressed after
the Indian fashion, which Yellowstone Oll
thoroughly understood.

“ You don’t want this hide to become a trade
robe, I reckon,” observed the guiie with a.
smile as he glanced up from his work of scrap-
ing the white skin, and met Jack’s watchful

use.
8 “I should say not ” was the quick response.

“ I’ll make it a body robe, then.”

Trade robes and body robes are entirely dif-
ferent articles.

The former are made for trading purposes;
the latter, elaborately painted and trimmed, are
worn by the Indians themselves. _

Trade skins are not painted. After havmg
been fleshed. braiued, washed and rubbed by
the squaws, they are ready for the ost trader,
who buys them at the tribe roun s f r from
one to three dollars each, an ships them East,
where he realizes enormous profits out of them.

The bod robes are beautiful, and would com-
hand hig prices if the Indians could be in-
duced to part with them. The tanning of these
robes takes time and patience, and when the
have been finished they are found to be beauti‘
fully decorated with scenes of camp and chase,
and often become family heirlooms which are
never sold.

Of course Jack would not have his elegant
white robe become a common trade skin; such
a fate should. not befall it, and Yellowstone Oil
was commissmned to prepare it; to the best of
his ability.

When the old guide finished his task, one of
, the handsomest buffalo-robes ever seen in the

Wild West was submitted to the camp‘s inspec-
tion and gronounced splendid. Aside from the

, silvery w iteness of the hair it was a handsome

‘ robe, and Jack, when he saw it tanned, almost
wished that he could meet another “ Old

‘ Whity ” regardless of consequences.

l “ If you boys can turn out More day to-
morrow mornin’, we’ll give the hard-heads a.
whirl,” remarked the guide, one night when the
boys were about to wrap themselves in their
blankets and seek dreamland.

‘ “The hard-heads?” echoed Tom. “ We are

‘ always ready to tackle any kind of game. Try
us to-morrow and see. We’ll sleep on our arms
so as to be ready.”

I Two hours before day, therefore, the amateur
hunters were awakened from sound slumber and
told to get ready for a sheep hunt. '

It was a cold morning, and no fire warmed
them as they crept from their blankets and be-

- gan to follow the guide’s directions.

I A heavy dew, almost like rain-drops. hung on

{blade and bush, and the wet leaves, when
l touched by the naked hand, sent a shiver
l through the hunter’s frame.

The horses were well corraled—for a horse
amounts to nothing during a sheep hunt—and
the arty stole from the camp along a trail
whic Yellowstone Oll followed with wonderful
ease, considering the hour.

Durin their various hunts. the occupants of
Camp bite Buflilo had seen a few mountain-
sheep, or “hard-heads,” at a distance and far.
bevond gun-shot.

1 Thie game is the ibex of the Rocky Mountains,

 

‘swift, sure-footed and wary. When pursued, ,

he will lunge down a. precipice of fifty feet
depth, alight on his horns, and bound away
again before the hunter can deliver a shot. The
flesh of the hard—heads is much prized, being
sweet and juicy, and is always welcome at
the cgmp-table which is generally the green
swar . ’

' As the mountain sheep prefers high altitudes, '

‘ the hunt becomes more than child’s play, is at-
; tended by man dangers, and very often
. proves an entire ailure.

Daylight was breaking on the lofty peaks of
the Rockies when the five big horn hunters
reached the spot from whence the wearisume
toiling up the mountains was to begin. »

It was, indeed, a toilsome ascent through the
damp bushes and over wet rocks; but the

Inc y boys did not murmur, knowing that

ellowstone Oll knew just where he was lead-
ing them.

'he sun came up and dissipated the pearly
dew wherever its rays penetrated, and the hun-
ters halted for breath and a breakfast on jerked
bear meat for above their camp.

They were now among the high trails of the
Rockies, and Yellowstone Oll assured them that
they would soon obtain a sight of the game.

The old uide's prediction speedily came tr 7: i
v 110t‘Rockyfi3 

ave saw two sheep standing pp.

‘ .. \ \

r

i

‘ l
l

i

, l‘
. 3,1511
4':
"i

_ s;

_ Vi:

 

 

(l
.4
i
.i
i

i
,1
l

‘1 1:4.

 

   
    
 

 

 

24 . The Young-Trail Hunters.

 

rock about three hundred yards away and !
slightly abova their position. i

If the think our rifles can’t reach them'
they she. discover their mistake,” said Tom.
“ Come! are we not going tochance thou hard.
heads? We may not get another such chance.”

“I’m willin’ if you think ou can drop one
from here,” answered Oil. ‘ They don’t see us
yet, but they will presently; then we’ll see tails
an’ not horns.”

This admonition to shoot quick brought the
rifles of the three New Yorkers to their shoul-
ders, and three reports sounded as one.

In an instant the big-horns disappeared, and
the young marksmeu looked at one another
ver much chagrined.

0 ’s countenance said very plainly: “Just as
I expected -" but he did not speak until the
boys had blamed their rifles, not themselves,
for their failure.

“I used to shoulder all the blame on my

n,” he said quietlv, but in a tone that abashed

is listeners; ‘ butIquit it when I found out
what was the matter. The guns ar’ all right, ‘
bOya I guess the fault b’longs elsawhar.” l

‘I own up, 01],” said Hiram, smilin . “ For ]
in part I think if the hard-heads had 11 but i
ii ty yards 03 the result would have been just
the same. Jack and Tom won’t acknowledge
it,‘but I‘ll be honest with you.” I

“ We’ll go an’ see if an of you hit,” and 011
sprung toward the rock rom which the sheep
had vanished. ‘

“Who sa 5 we missed?” exclaimed Jack. ‘
“Look here! ’ and he pointed to several spots of
blood on the cliflf. ‘

“ A scrape, I reckon, nothin’ more,” returned
the aide. “ But, by my soul! here a
bl y trail. Well follow it an’ see w at it
leads to.”

Eager to come up with the mountain sheep
which seemed to have been pretty hard hit, the
boys set ed at the guide’s eels, and followed
the trail for more than two miles until it was
lost at the edge of ‘a preci ice over which the
animal had thrown him3e , thus escaping from
his hunters.

. This ending of the trail filled the big-horn

hunters with disgust. Toward the last their

, hopes had risen to a degree that inspired all the

,zfirtainties of success, but the sheep had eluded
em.

“ I am disgusted!” ejaculated Tom. “Let us
go back to camp.”

At that moment Rock
destined to discover all t e game, caught Tom
by the arm and whirled him half-way round as
lfie Bointed to an object almost directly over-

ea .

“Another sheep I” exclaimed the boy. “The
old fellow seems to be lookin down u on us.
What are the chances for bag ellow-
stone?”

“ They ar’tfood ones if you can shoot straight
enough, ’ sai the guide. “He ain’t more than
eighty feet above us, an’ he dossn’t know we’re
here. We want sheep-meat, an’ this one may
be-the last chap we’ll sight.”

“ Then bring him down.”

Thus invited to fire, the old guide proudly}
raised his rifle, and brought it to bear on the big i

 

g him,

 

4

“ I would be willing to go. without my dinner
to have him miss,” whispered Jack at Tom’s

arm.

“ Ten to one that he does,” returned Tom,
who still smarted under the reproof the guide
had lately administered.

At that moment the rifle cracked. and the
next the four boys bounded toward the moun-
tain wall that-rose above the narrow trail they
had been threading.

The body of the hard-head was falling dewn-
ward, whirling over and over so rapidly that
one could scarcely discern its revolutions, and
while the young hunters held their breath it
struck with a thud on the rock at their feet.

Instantly Yellowstone Oil pounced upon it
and seized it by the horns, thus preventing it
from falling from the trail into the gulch far

e ow.

“ I didn’t calculate to miss him,” he exclaimed,
with an old hunter’s pride. “ We’ll have mutton
for supper after all.’ Y

The sheep turned out to be a large one of the
Epecies, and the last at which the party was

estined to get a shot.

Yellowstone Oil fell at once to dressing the
carcass, watched by the boys, who were tired
and sore, for the hunt had been conducted over
some of the roughest ground in that part of the

country. .
“We shall probably see no more game to-
day,” remarked Hiram. “I would like to bag

‘ something after this terrible tramp.”

“ Then drop that bear,” said Tom.

Hiram looked up.

“ No jokes, sir,’ he said.

“ Who is joking! Can you not see an object
as big as a bushe i”

Hiram leaped to his feet.

“ A bearl—a grizzly i” he shouted.

 

CHAPTER XIII.
A YOUNG BEAR-mun TRIED.

Strait enou h. at _a certain s ot about thirty
yards down t e trail, the huge end of a grizzly
was Visible.

Tom had discovered it but a moment before
he called Hiram’s attention to it, and a minute
afterward it disappeared.

_With his exclamation of “ a bearl—a grizzly i"
Hiram sprung .after the animal, rifle in hand.
anxious to deliver a shot after the retreating

Dave, who seemed figur

e.

“ Brin that_boy back l” commanded Yellow—
stone 0] , looking up from his task of skinning
the mountain sheep. “ If Old Eph takes a no-
tion to turn on him in that narrow mountain
trail, thar’ll be somebody hurt.”

But Hiram had already passed out of sight,
and was treading close to the bear’s heels.

The discover of a grizzly at that hight had
astonished all; ut hunger will sometimes carry
the bear into strange p aces.

Hiram, whom we are oing to follow, reached
the spot where the head ad been seen in time
to catch a glimpse of a darkish object lumbering
along the gradually descending trail some dis-
mlzc: way'th t thi h
_ owin a s was t e grinl , he t
on. res V denser. He would, what

l

 

l
1
5|.

Mg; ».._.,_ 4,...”

 
     
     
      
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
   
   
  
   
   
 
  
   
  
 
 
   
  
   
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
   
 
  
  
  
   
   
       
     
    

his, , 

w".

I

to send a shot after the monarch of the Bockfes.

The trail in some places ran near the edge of
the cliff or terrace, from which could be seen,
far beneath, one of the loveliest little valleys in
the whole region. A few stunted trees grew
along the edge of the terrace, and leaned over
the abyss as though in the act of falling. The
trail between their roots and the solid mountain
wall on the left was not more than four feet wide.

Hundreds of loose stones, the largest not big-
ger than a. man’s flst, were scattered along the
trail, thus rendering running exceedingly dan-
geriius; but Hiram and the bear got along very
we] .

At last the excited young hunter turned a.
bend in the trail, and came suddenly upon a
sight that made him halt and draw back.

Not one grizzly but five were before him, two
old ones and three cubs, whose teeth were sharp
enough to do a good deal of damage.

The grizzly he had chased had oined the
family, and the a ct of the old ears told
Hiram that his furt er progress was to be dis-

uted.
p To turn and flee toward his companions was
to have the condition of affairs reversed; he
would have the savage family at his heels.

The old she bear was already showing her
teeth, and the lord of the domain was not averse
to an attack.

“ I'm here, and I’m going to fight!” muttered
Hi, determined to open the battle before the rest
of the party could come up. “Yellowstone says
the she bear is always the worst customer to
handle, so I’ll take her first.”

The old animal presented an excellent target
for Hiram’s aim. She stood sideways to him,
but with her head turned toward him. Her
cubs stood near b , and about ten feet away the
male grizzly fac him with flashing eyes.

‘ The boy hunter took deliberate aim at the
mother not more than forty yards distant, and
then pressed the trigger.

The grizle staggered under the shot, but
managed to eep her feet, while the cubs set up
a chorus of growls and snarls that rendered the
place a perfect Bedlam. They danced frantic-
ally round the wounded mother, who olnwad
madly at the wound Hiram‘s rifle had inflicted,
while the male bear dashed forward, bent on
vengeance.

Hiram stood his ground with the coolness of
a veteran, and fired twice straight at the charg-
ing brute. One of the balls took effect in the
face, breaking the lower jaw and causing the
grizzly to give vent to a terrible roar of pain,
while the second struck him in the breast just
below the fatal curl, sending him beautifully to
grass, where his huge body locked the trail.

These shots were the most fortunate ones the
boy hunter could have delivared, for they
placed one of the old animals hora du combat,
and gave him a breathing-spell and time to re-
treat.

Hiram acce ted the former, but spurned the
latter, being e ated b his succe and eager to

, finish the mother of t e cubs.

When he turned his attention to her, he saw
her moving toward her dead companion, fol-
lowed by the cubs, almost aslarge as Newfound-
land dogs. The young hears were still snarling

 

   

The Younga'l'ruil Hunters. , ' 85

and showing their teeth, and whenever they im-

peded the mother’s progress by their demonstra-
tions she would knock them aside with a sweep
of her paw, sometimes sending them to the
ver edge of the terrace.

iram withheld his fire until the old bear
reached her mate, whom she nudged and ex-
amined with almost human instinct.

Every now and then she would raise a piteous
bowl and look at the boy, while the cubs, ren-
dered frantic by the scent and taste of blood,
were fighting among themselves.

All at once, as it suddenly discovering that
the bear in the ass was dead the enraged fe-
male uttered a erce cry, and bounding over
the carcass dashed straight at Hiram. '

He had but a moment in which to take aim,
and he attempted to improve it.

He pressed the trigger with an expressed hope
that the shot might prove fatal; but alas! in-
stead of finishing the mother’s life, it wounded
one of the cubs, which fell over uttering the
wildest cries imaginable.

Attracted‘b her cub’s condition, the old bear
turned to ren er it all the assistance she could.
She caught it"up in her arms, and having found
the wound began to lick it while the little one
still continued to bowl.

At this moment Hiram, taking advanta e of

the situation, fired again, and planted a b l in '

the mother’s right foot, shatteriu it and cans-
ing her to drop the cub, which ay still as if
a

e d.

Despite her shattered foot the old grizzly
came at the coura eous boy hunter again, and
recei . ed a shot un er the hide on her fore shoul-
der which inflicted no damage, but increased
her fury.

Hiram was now getting into close quarters.

He realized that if the grizzly was not stopped

by the next shot, he would have to fly for his v

life before her jaws.
If his friends were coming to his rescue, they
were not making very good headway. It was

just possible that they had turned into another . ~ , “7

trail for the mountains contained many such
paths, and all of them showed bear “sign” in
profusion.

The old grizzl presented a terrible aspect as ‘

she dashed at iram the last time. With dis-
tended jaws already bloody, and ears thrown
back with bloodshot eyes and fury expressed in
every wrinkle, she came on like a thunderbolt,
an o ject horrible enough to unnerve the coolest
marksman.

“ Heaven direct this shot!” e aculated Hiram,
fully realizing his danger, as . e tried to cova'
the plunging animal. .

He touched the trigger With some misgivings
atndt' raised his head to see the result of the
s o r

Horrors! he had not checked the We speed

in the least.

Had he missed the monster entirely!

There was no chance for another shot, for
the she grimly and her cubs were upon him!

Hiram turned and ran, but a second later he
stepped on a loose stone, and fell headlong to-

ward the edge of the terrace, losing his gun and .

etrees t

landing at the foot of one of t
leaned from the trail. .

a.

26 ‘ . The Young Trail Hunters.

 

as quickly as possible, and sprung. not ahead
again, but at the tree. toward whose branches
he crept with all the speed he could command.

When he reached the limbs and cast a look to~
ward his enemies, he found that he had not left
the trail a moment too soon, for the old grizzly
was at the root of the tree whose trunk s e was
feeling with her unwounded paw as if she in-
tended to follow her enemy into its top.

This was an aspect of affairs that had not oc-
curred to, Hiram before. He was driven to the
tree without forethought, and before he had ex-
amined his perch.

He now saw that the tree was not the most
substantial of retreats, for whenever the bear
placed her foot upon it, it shook and leaned fur-
ther over the abyss.

What would happen if the animal should
throw her whole weight upon the body?

Hiram clung desperately to a limb, and drew
his only remaining weapon, a heavy Colt re-
volver. His own Weight was causing the tree
to lean far out of line, and the bear seemed de-
termined to reach him.

' A terrible grewl announced to the tread boy ,
the grizzly’s Intention, and a cry burst from his 1

heart as the tree bent under her foot.

“ Merciful Heavensl I shall go down with the
tree!” he exclaimed, and then, thrustin his re-
volver forward, he fired three shots in rapid
succession, and drove the rizzly from the tree.

' “ Courage! courage! V e are coming, Hi!”
came a voice from a spot ovarhead as the last
crack of the revo‘ver died away.

Hiram uttered an exclamation of joy, and the
grizzly, who had heard the voice, turned her

ead and looked up, but only for a moment.

As if aware that a=sistance was approaching
the treed boy hunter, she put her paw again on
the body of the tree and pressed down harder
than ever.

Hiram had to put up the revolver and cling to ‘

the boughs for life.
shake him oil?!

The tree swayed and cracked as he held his
breath, seeing which the old vixen redoubled
her efforts, until Hiram gave himself up for

The grizzly was going to

ost.

Suddenly three rifles changed the scene, and
the old bear whirled with a growl of rage, then
rose on her hind feet, as three figures leaped
forwwrd.

“The boys! not a minute too soon i” gasped
Hiram, whose stren th was nearly gone.

“Give the old ady another shot I” cried
.Rocky Dave, as Jack and Tom, who had sprung
into the path 'with leveled rifles, took aim

in.
be two boys obeyed, and the grizzly fell,
pierced through the breast.

The cubs sprung away, eager to effect their
esca , now that the mother was done for; but
the y mountaineer’s rifle ended the career of
one. who, in the agonies of a death-wound,
1-01le 01! the terrace. The last one got away.

Hiram crept from the tree as expeditiously as

ible. and was greeted by his companions.

“ We struck the wrong trail.” explained
Rocky Dave. “ We heard your shots all the
lama. but the sounds deceivedus. The moan.

 

Of course the young hunter picked himself up ‘

tain abounds in bear signs, and that also helped
to baffle us. But we got here in time to be in
at the death.”

“If you had remained away another five
minutes you would have found me at the bot—
tom of the gulch,” responded Hiram. “The
old hear was going to shake me out of that tree.
The limbs to which I was clinging were actually
breaking, and dirt and stones were dropping
from the roots. We might have one down-
ward together—the tree and l—but am afraid
I would have tumbled overboard alone.”

i “You will not run after another grizzl ’s
head soon?” asked Tom, whose eyes twink ed
merrily.

“ Therel I’d rather you would not oke until
I have fairly recovered,” retorted iram, se-
riously. “I think I can say, however, thatI
prefer to hunt any other game than hours.”

The boys followed the back trail until they
reached the male bear which Hiram had shot.
The carcass was skinned by the time Yellow-
stone Oll came up, and a feast of mountain
mutton and grimly steaks was had on Hirain’s
i never-to-be-forgotten battle-field.

“You boys ar’ learnin’,” said the old uide.
“I had to learn many hard lessons when first
came to this kentrv. I once ran after a.
grizzly just like Hi did and what did I get?—
a broken leg, a mashed am an’ other little
bruises too numerous to speak of. The next
b’ar I hustled from with the speed of an Injun
pony, an’ I think yet that I can outrun the fast-
, est grizzly in these mountains.”

I No one disputed Oll’s declarations who glanced
at his long limbs, but all thought of the ridicu-

V lous figure he would cut when in full flight be-

! fore the open jaws of Old Ephraim.

' The day was far spent when the hunting-

party returned to camp, and a visit to the cab n
told the guide that Indians had been there dur-
ing their absence.

He did not mention his discovery to the boys.

 

 

CHAPTER XIV.

I manna JIM AND ms PEU D‘onnILLns.

l IF the red—skins had paid the deserted camp a

i visit, they had not disturbed the cabin nor its
surroundings at all.

‘ Yellowstone Oil, whose keen eyes nothing

, seemed to escape, examined the ground unbed

; known to his young com anions, and noted the

‘ direction taken by the ndlans upon their de-
parture.

l When the cache was reached, and everything

‘ left behind, horses and all, had been found se-

' was, the guide stole away and went back to the
ca in.

/ The Rocky Mountain hunter is generally no
friend to the Indian. There continually exists
between the two a strong hatred, increased by
little depredations by the red-skins, and by re-
taliation from the white trapper.

Yellowstone 011 was one of those who cor
dially hated the Indians, especially the Black-
feet whom he constantly called the meanest
nation near the head-waters of the Missouri.

In order to track the camp visitors a short
distance, as well as for the gurpose of dis-

, covering their numbers. thezui ehadzone back

 

 

b
l

 

 

 

9

The Young lTrail. Hunters. 2”

 

to the cabin where he had Seen the imprint of
moccasins in the suit earth there.
An hour later he suddenly presented himself

to the four boys with a grin on his bronze = far-e. '

“ Ef you want to see a bit of fun—a regular

circus, come with me,” he said, before he could %

be questioned. “ It isn’t often one gets to see a
show in the Rockies, but at I haven’t discovered

one equal to Dan Rice‘s actin’, you can call me i

a sucker. It’s only about two miles from hyer,
an’ it doesn’t cost a cent.”

With their curiosity excited by Yellowstone
Oll‘s words, the four boys sprung up and an
nounced their willingness to follow him any-
where.

“ It must be a bear-show—a cub dance,” said
Rocky Dave, at Jack’s elb0w. " We run across
such sights here occasionally. When all the
members of a grizzly family are in good humor
they have jolly times. The young bears play
leap-frog and catch paws and dance on their
hind feet in a manner truly laughable while
the old bears look on much amused. came
suddenly on such a scene summer before last.
It was near the bank of a river, and all the
fi‘riulies save one were having a jolly good time.

he one I have mentioned didn t want to have
any thing to do with the fun. I guess he didn’t
feel well, for he laid down mopsy like and
wouldn’t grin once. The old she bear tried to

I make him join in the sport, but it was no go;

the young bear got stubborn,‘ an’ if he could
have talked. he would have told his mother
that he was goin’ to do as be pleased. Well,
what do you think the old bear did i”

“ Cuffed the cub’s ears. I suppose.”

“ Worse than that. When she had used mild
means long enough, she got up, rubbed the
baby bear and ran with him tower the river.
The next moment she was at the edge of the
water. and in went little Eph. head over heels,
and almost to the bottom. it was really funny
to see him come up to the top. ufiin’an’ blowin’
like a young lnjun. After aw lile he swam to
the bank where his mother awaited him, an’ a
betterbear you never saw. He went bulk to
the camp as meek as a kitten an’ danced all the
water of! his coat. Some hears almost havs
human understandin.’ but when it comes to
trippin’ them they lose all that.”

he party I}; this time had left the cache far
behind, and ellowstone 011 was leading the
oung hunters over a rough trail which prom-
lsed to lead them to a. spot from whence they
would beable to look down into a mountain

ulch.
g “ It isn’t the kind of show Rocky’s been tellin’
about,” the guide declared, glancing at Jack
and Tom, who had just listened to the young
mountaineer’s story about the dancmg ears.
“ Quite the contrary; it’s an Injun performance
with a. mule in it.”

The boys exchanged significant glances, but ‘

said nothing, although at the mention ol’ lwdians
they looked at their flgea‘rms (to! see that they
were repared fora re -s inne 0e.

A 83011? distance further on Yellowstone Oll
halted theparty, and crept to the edge of the
trail where he parted some bushes and gazed
downward. _

“They’re at it yet,” he» remarked oyer his
shoulder. and the boys speedily jomed bun.

| About fifty yards below the trail was a beau-
: tiful mountain plateau, or labledund, covering
forty acres. A luxuriant growth of grazing
grass grow over the little plain, which was not
uninhabited.

Almost directly underneath the hunters was a
company of Indians numbering twenty souls.
That they made up a hunting party and not a
war band was easily seen by several deer
which lay dead on the ground. The horses that
had carried them to the spot grazed a short dis-
tance away, but the red-skins were enjoying a
dangerous sport if they were not pursuing
game.

A vicious mule was held by three stalwart
young bucks at the end of a lasso, and the rest
of the hand, one at a time, were trying to
mount the animal. Whenever one would steal
up for that purpose the mule would hurl his
hind-feet in that direction. and render the at-
tempt a risky busmess for the warrior.

The Indians tried ever artifice known to
gain the mule’s back. but t e a ile heels always
cameto the animal’s rescue. hey would ap—

roach by stealth. creeping through the grass
ike wolves, or dash forward from oppoaite di-
rections, but without success.

While the young bear-hunters looked on, one
over-anxious young brave advanced too near
and received a. kick that doubled him up and
sent him flying through the air.

“That is our mule, Kicking Jiml” suddenly
exclaimed Jack.
him from camp the time they first visited it I
could never understand; but those Indians down
there don’t look like members of that nation.”

“They're a lot of Pen d’OI'eiilvl reds, a. little
off their course,” ohsarvad Yellowstone 011.
“They’re ’not a bed set of chaps, when you get
in with them. for they like fun wherever they
find it.”

For some time longer the hunters watched the
savages in their attempts to mount the mule.
The brave who had been kicked had picked
himself up and sneaked away to nurse his hurts
and wrath beyond his comrades’ sight.

Kicking Jim seemed to enjoy the fun with the
same zest that animated his tormentors. At
times he would stand like an exhausted animal,
and present the picture of an utter] “played-
out” mule, but hate red-skin aptproac too near
whether by crawl or bound, on his heels would
whiz through the air uncomfortably close to the
,Inrliun’s head.

The leader of the Peu d’Oreilles stood on n.
bear-robe, well out of harm’s way, enjoying the
scene before him.

At last he took a spear and planted it firmly
in the ground, point downward, and hung on
y the other end a. beautiful body robe, which he
l had taken from his own shoulders.

“ Somebody will at kicked to death for that
robe,” murmured ellowstone 01], as the red-
skins drew of! to listen to the chief’s ofler of the

 

rohe to the brave who should first seat himself

on Kicking Jim’s back.

All at once, with a loud yell, that echoed in
the mountain defiles around them, the Indian!
rushed at the mule from all sides. I

Kicking Jim was taken somewhat aback b
the movement, but he soon took in the si -
nation. and the next instant homes kicking fast

“ How the Blackfeet ever got ,

A
.\

 

I

.~\-

28

The Young Trail Hunters.

 

and furious, scattering his red tormentors forci-
bly in every direction.

He seemed to stand wholly on his front feet
his hinder ones being constantly in the air, an
more than one buc picked himself up many
feet away.

But one warrior reached the coveted seat, and
aloud cheer rent the air.

The braves at the lasso now relinquished their
hold, and Kicking Jim was left to unseat his
rider if he could.

He set himself at once to this task with a will
that seemed certain to accomplish his purpose;
but the red-skin was an old horseman, and Jim 1
was obliged to acknowledge himself mastered at

t

 

 

l

When this exciting performance came to a‘
close the body robe was given to the victor by l
the chief, and the red hunters proceeded to pre- l

a tempting feast. l

“ We’ll go down now.” said Yellowstone Oll. .

, “ The show’s over, an’ Kickin’ Jim is ready for ‘
thenext performance.” I

The young New Yorkers at first objected to
going below. but when Rocky Dave told them
that the uide had spent many months amon
the Pen (1’ reilles, they demurred no longer, an
thetwhole company accordingly descended to the
p a eau.

The meeting between Oil and the Indians was
very cordial. He was at once recognized by
the chief. Burnt Arrow, who told him that his
nation was then at war with the Blackfeet. and
that while his band had entered the country for
a hunt they would not object to abrush with I
their old enemy. ,

Asfor Kicking Jim—who was offered to his
original owners by the chief—it was stated that ‘
he had been discovered running at large the ‘
night before, and that a lasso had secured him.

“ Thar’s no tellin’ how many Blackfoot heads
he broke afore he gave ’em the slip.” said Oll
With a laugh as he glanced at the mule, now as
motionless as a horse cast in bronze. “ I wish
the old codger could talk, but as he can’t we‘ll
lav twenty, an’ thank ’im besides.” _

The boy hunters joined in the general laugh, ‘
and Kicking Jim became the hero of the hour.

 

 

CHAPTER XV.
A BRUSH WITH ms: nmcmm‘.

THE Peu d’Oreilles became greatly incensed
when they learned that their enemies, the Black- ‘
feet, had attempted to plunder White Bufltalo‘1

amp.

They offered to follow the trail, overtake the
marauders, and punish them severely; but the
boy hunters did not care about getting into any
difliculty With Indians, and wisely declined to
accept .Burnt Arrow’s proposition.

Kicking Jim, the mule, was returned to his
first owners, whom he appeared to recognize,
while those who had felt his heels eyed him sav-
zg'elg .as though eager to give him a Roland for

liver.

As the Pen d'Orellles were found to be a lot of
wed-natured Indians, they were invited to

bite Buffalo Camp, which was taken -
lieu of once more, and the young New Yorkers
felt sate trom Blackfoot invasion.

   
 

'6

When night came, the horses of both (parties '

were corra ed together and guards poste
Burnt Arrow was the only member of t‘
skinned hunting party that had been u
uainted with Jack’s capture of the whi ...t—
iilo-skin, and the opportune rescue ou the
am.
p At the close of Yellowstone Oll’s narrative
the old warrior shook his head and replied:
“Blackfeet find out, mebbe, that white boy
no die in the snowy robe. Then their hearts
will get mad, and they will hunt for camp
at 'in

“ That's what I've been thinkin’, Arrow,” said
the guide, “ but I haven’t said a word 9" the
boys. I imagine that Rocky Dave thinkt Jut
the same as I do. We], ef it warn’t fer h‘few
things. I’d like to have a brush with the reddies
afore I trot the boys back to Helena, whar my
contract ends. We've set day after tomorrow
for leavin’ the old camp, an ef the Blackfeet
would find us here, they must come soon.”

‘“ Come to~ni ht, mebhe," and Burnt Arrow,
not the least excited, took another whit! at his

» ma.

1 -

1flatter hearing Yel10wstone Oll’s story, the
guards were doubled, and the horses moved to a.
corral nearer cum .

"I wonder wha all this recaution means!”
asked Hiram of Tom after e had noticed all
these movements. “To me it can mean but one
thing—Indians.”

“Burnt Arrow has become our Jonah, you
think i"

“Something. of that sort. I am confident
from what I have seen that an attack of some
kind is expected. I do not like the idea of being
shot while sitting in the light of our Camp-fire.
I’d rather stand guard.”

‘° 80 would I. Rocky Dave and one of the Pen
d’Oreilles are guarding the camp somewhere, and
Jack has a post with another. Let us form a
picket- ost and watch. awhile. Yellowstone
Oll wil not object.”

When the two boys applied to the guide for
permission to stand guard until midnight, leave
was granted, and they selected a place not far
from the camp near the Medicine, but within
sight of the fire-light.

It was rather a lonely post for the two boys,
and time hung heavy on their hands.

Tom leaned against a tree with his rifle rest-
ing in the hollow of his arm, and Hiram was
near by with every sense on the alert liken
watchful sentry.

Before them ran the river which. miles and
miles away, mingled its waters with those of
the Upper Missouri. Beyond the stream

stretched a pretty level piece of country, slight-
ly timbered, and a fair grazing ground for the
herds of bulfalo that sometimes visited it.

Over all hung the canopy of night, anda light

breeze blowing from the south stirred the grass
at the feet of the young guards.

All of a sudden Tom saw a flash of fire

against the sky beyond the furthest bank of the
river.

Thinking it a meteor, he did not call Hiram’s

attention to it and permitted it to pass unques.
tioned. » '

But several minutes later another flash ap-

   
 

 

  

The Young Trail Hunters.

peered at the same place, then two more in such
" ‘ "'iccession that the b0 hunter started.

 {Qwere not meteors, ut signals of some
non

Were they not Indian fire arrows!

Tom was about to speak to his companion
when a hand fell upon his arm and he saw Hi-
ram looking into his face.

” Did you see those stars, Tomi” asked His

ram.

“ Stars? Were they meteors, Hi?”

“ That’s what I have just called them; but—”

“They were signals! I am certain of that.”

 a kind on has told us about no doubt.”

“ . think so.”

Yellowstone 011 had told the boy hunters a
great deal about the various tribes of Indians
that inhabit the Rocky Mountain re ion. In
one of his narratives he had describe the fire
or signal arrows of the Blackfeet and Modocs,
which are made by dipping the shafts of the
arrow in gunpowder mixed with glue. Chewed
bark miXed with dry powder is next fastened
to the stick; thi composition is fired just before
the arrow is sent whistling into the air and
when at a certain hight the shaft suddenly
burns with a bright light and continues burning
until it falls to the ground.

Thelndians have a regular code of signals,
and dispatches are sent from one hand to an-
other after night by means of these fire-arrows.

The boy sentinels very naturally recalled
what Yellowstone 011 had told them about fire-
arrows; but the continued to watch with their
eyes turned to t e spot where they had seen the

ligFts. ‘

hey wondered if the signals had been seen
by any other persons belonging to the camp,
and, as nobody came out to the post, they con.
eluded that they were the sole obserVers.

An hour had nearly passed since the flashes
in the sky, and Tom and Hiram were thinking
about withdrawing to the camp where warm
blankets awaited them, when a slight noise in
the water a short distance down-stream caused
them both to turn in that direction.

“A beaver,” said Hiram, after listening a
moment.

“ Indians, more likely,” was Tom’s response.

Need we say that the boy guards cocked their
rifles and leaned forward With eyes strained to
catch sight of the maker of the noise?

For several moments no further sound was
heard. The beaver had probably taken to the
water, and was noiselessly steering himself
across the stream.

“ Hark !. look yonder!” whispered Tom, as he
griped Hiram’s arm and pointed toward the

grass that grew between them and the water’s

edge.
At first Hiram saw nothing, but by and by he
found that what he had deemed a short log was
endowed with life and motion. '
' “You don't call that a beaver, do you?” con-
tinued Tom. smiling. “I say that a dozen In-
dians are creeping toward the cam , one behind
the other. It means a night attac We shall
saga 31th lthe Fviggnitil s if the camp is taken”
‘ in y. a 0 on o 0mg
“Ijm in for firing into {he Ethan, and then
runan to camn.” .

 

89

Hiram’s reply was not delayed an instant,

“I am ready,” he said, as his rifle was lifted
to his shoulder. “ I see the creeping line barely
well enough to fire at. When you have taken
aim, Tom. give the signal.” '

The dark objects creeping serpent-like through
the grass were not more than twant yards
away. They were indistinctly reveale by the
stars, and were evidently approaching the camp
for the purpose of attacking its_inmates, and
now was the time to frustrate their design.

Tom and Hiram had fortunately selected a
spot for guard duty which otherwise. would
have been left unwatched. Indian spies bad
doubtless visited the vicinity in the earl rt
of the night, and found no sentrieslposte t ere
—hence their crossing of the Medicine at that

int. .
p0All at once the reports of the .boys’ guns
startled the mountain echoes, and Without stop-

ing to inquire into the effects of their shots,
they wheeled and fled campward as tastes their
limbs could carry them. .

As the bounded into the firelight, they found
the Pen ’ Oreilles and Yellowstone Oil on the
alert with ready rifles and faces turned toward
the attacked post.

“ Indians!” shouted Tom, as he ran up to the

ide. “We are about to be attacked by a
arge body of Blackfeet!”

“Ver likely,” answered Oll, calmly, as
he sm' ed at the boy hunter’s excfiement.
“They war creepin’ like black snakes through
the grass when ou saw ’em, eh? That’s a.
Blackfoot’s attack tor all the world, the sneakin’
redrskin!” _ .

The other guards came in at the reports of the
he s’ guns, and the fire was ut out so as not to
iii the enemy. The Peu d’ reilles were mostly
armed with the bow and arrow, but several
carried excellent repeating rifles, which they
knew how to handle. _

As if disconcerted at being discovered, the
sueakin enemy held off, thus giving the occu-I
pants 0% White Bufl’alo Camp an opportunity
of erfecting their plans.

uddenly a shower of arrows came from}
toward the river, but most of the missfles were
badly aimed and did little damage beyond
wounding a fen d'Oreille and two horses.

The allies re lied with a volley of firearms
and a few feat ered shafts. that scattered the
foe, and forced him to shelter himself behind
the trees that grew near the water. _

From thence they kept up a hail-storm of
arrows, mostly flred too high, for the defenders
of the camp had thrown themselves on the
ground, thus escaping death. .

Knowing that the enemy could not be dis-
lodged by an attack in front. Yellowstone 0!!
and Burnt Arrow secretly divided their forces,
and sent one part from the cam for the pur-

se of flanking the Blackfeet an driving them
i)??? till?th monk i a b h be ‘ '

e n ng rywase te ymoun-
taineer. Rocky Ewe, and the ygung New York-
ers crept at his heels.

A panther-like crawl brought the {any to
within sight of the dark figures among 110311508,- '
and all a once. at a. loud about from the young

 

    

The Young Trail Hunters.

 

trapper, the flinkers poured a destructive volley
among the Blackfeet.

Again and again the deadly repeating rifles
sent their contents into the ranks of the foe, and
when the force left at the camp came down upon
them like a whirlwind, they fled toward the
r1var.

The attack on the camp had failed, and the
prowling Blackfeet were glad to withdraw
across the Medicine, where they considered them-
selves safe. I

But the Peu d’Oreilles mounted their horses 4
plunged into the river with loud yells, an
dashed straight at their fees.

A stubborn fight, lasting a. few minutes, took
Blace on the opposite bank, but the maddened

reilles Were not to be withstood, and the Black-
feet were forced to continue their retreat.

The enemy was forcad to leave his dead and
wounded behind. His total loss consisted of
thirteen braves, seven of whom had been slain
outright, and the six wounded were speedily
tomahawked by the friendly reds. Such in- ‘
human conduct disgusted the boy hunters, but ‘
as it was the custo I of the tribe, and as a re-
monstrance could have done no good, they kept
silent, and turned from the scene.

If the fire—arrows which Tom and Hiram had
seen from their post were signals to another
band of the enemy approaching the comp from
another direction, nothing came of it; for the
morning broke beautiful and clear with the
victors still in possession of the field, and not
one of their number lost.

“ I reckon that the. Blackfeet have got enough
of us,” ejaculated Yellowstone 01]. “At any
rate the¥vgot more than they bargained for last
night. ecan take our last hunt to—morrow
just as we intended doin’, an’ the next day, hol
for the States i”

The old guide’s prediction turned out a correct

one.

The intended hunt was taken in company i
with the Pen (1’ Oreilles, and not a Blackfoot i
was seen. ’
,The hunt proved very successful, a number
of elk and Several antelope being taken, and the
hunters reached the camp at sundown heavily
laden and in the best of spirits.

“ You told us once that you ran from a griz-
zly, Oil,” said Tom at the cam p-fire that night,
“ and you romised then to tell the story when-
ever we a ed for it. We are all together now,
so let’s have it.”

“It isn't much shakes of a. yarn, nohow,”
said the old guide, “an’ then I guess it‘s my
turn for a. story, so here goes. Burnt Arrow
thar has heard it; but he can listen ag’in.”

 

CHAPTER XVI.
m LAST YARN—BACK TO THE STATES.

“ I was huntin’ up on the Yellow Medicine
about twenty year ago,” continued the leak.-
guide. “ an‘ had got pretty well acquainted at a ‘
Shoshone camp which wern’t far from one of g
the deepest canyons in that kentry. B’ar sign
war plenty, but somehow or other we Couldn’t
set our pee on the animiles. The Injuns
hunted day in an’ day out, but all they could
7 see war tracks, Bn’ they war thin enoush- i

 

\

“I sometimes had for my companion a Sho-
shone boy who had but one arm. He had lost
t’other in a b’art-rap some years store, but he
didn’t seem to mind his loss much, for he could
shoot b restin’ his gun on the stump of his
arm. is name war Ka lis-ke—la, the One—
Armed, an’ be had an eye in his head that an
eagle might be proud of. We war a good deal
together them times fer I had taken a fancy to
the youngster, an’ he to me.

“One day when I came into camp from a
tramp alone, a. squaw told me that Ka-lis-keda
had seen a. b’ar down in the deep canyon, an’
that, as his gun was out of fix, he had gone ar—
ter it with nothin’ but his knife. or course I
knew that the boy wouldn’t be nowh'ar with a
grizzly in the condition he war, so I put off fer
the canyon to help him bag his game.

“It war gittin’ dark when I got to the gulch,
but I knew the youngster war ahead of me, for
I had noticed his moccasin-tracks in the ground
whar it war soft. The high walls of the canyon
seemed to reach to the skies. In many places
they war as bare as my hand, but elsewhar a.
few bushes war growin’ from the cracks, with
no earth at all at their roots.

“ Wal, I looked everywhar fer Ka-lis-ke-la,
fer, as the ground had become hard, I had lost
his trail; but not a ha’r could I es of the young
Shoshone. I got to the middle of the canyon
whar thar wara big bowlder like the one we
saw our first grimly on, boys—the one Jack
shot. I stopped thar, an’ presently got up on

‘ the stone to wait awhile for the One—Armed, fer

I knew he would have to come that way goiu’
back to camp. Night came on an’ found me
thar, but a full moon war in the sky right above
me, an’ the old canyon wasn’t such a dreary
place arter all.

“ I waited an’ waited, but Ka-lis-ka-la didn’t
come. At last I dropped to sleep, snthin’ I never
did afore in the grizzly kentry when I war on a
hunt; hut thar I sat on the big bowlder, sound
aslee likealgreeney.

“ 11 at once, Great Jehosaphatl I war sent
flyin’ from the stone by suthiu’ that seemed to
flatten myliead an’ when I lpicked myself up
about twenty-live feet off, saw the biggest
grizzly that ever made a track, standin’ on
the bodeer on his hind feet, laughin’ at my
tumble. His impudence made me mad, an’
then I war ashamed of myself fer lettin’
him steal such a march on me. Thar he stood,
full in then-moonshine which made him look big-
ger than he really war, perhaps, an’ the worst
of it war th t my rifle lay at the foot of the
rock, leavin’ me with no Weapon in my belt
but a knife whose handle were oose.

“ I hadn’t much time in which to decide what
I war goin’ to do fer all at once the rizzly
gave a growl which said, ‘Look out, show-
stone! I’m comiu’i’ an’ down he jumped, an’
came straight at me with his mouth 0 nan’
his eyes on fire. I
0nd arter that, fer had nobusiness whar that
old bunker war, so I turned an’ out dirt with all
my might.

‘I used to run'agood streak up in the Sho-
shone kentry them ays, an’ Irresolved to show

the grizzly that he war no match fer Oll PartiesP

but some how-or-other. the old fellow war lub-

ess I didn’ stan’t sti a 5913- r‘

 

 

  
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

        
   
 

  

 

The Young Trail Hunters.

 

plied with leg machinery equal to mine. We
cl’ared ground at a rate that war a caution, an’
I managed to keep about three feet ahead of
the bar fer several hundred yards. I wore a
close fittin’ jacket that night, but one of the
chief’s daughters had trimmed it with long
fringe to make it look fancy. Wal, I soon lost
that fringe, fer the b’ar got so close that he tore
it ofl’ with his teeth, which r’iled me more than
ever.

i

“I don’t know how that race would have

ended if I had not stumbled. All of a sudden. :

down I went, an’ Old Ephraim pitched headlong
over me to pick himself up a piece ofl’, looking
as foolish as I did, and ab at as mad. He
didn’t intend to leave me, fer he came back, an’
I turned an’ bolted toward the bowlder from
which he had knocked me with one of his side
w: nrs.

‘You may b’lieve that I had suthin’ to run
for new, for I war goin’ toward my rifle. an’ the
b’ar seemed to know it. He came on fully de-

l

tarmined that I should not finish the tussle with g
a lead pill, while I had made up my mind to 

st0p it in no other way. _ .
“ By dint of the hardest runmn’ I ever did in

l

der. Idon’t know how the news of that fight
ever got to camp, but the Injuns told me after-
ward that I fetched it myself, an' that Ka-lis-
ke—la came when I did, of he war dead.
must have carried the boy with me.

“ When we skinned the grizzly we wrapped
the One—Armed in the pelt an’ buried him in the
canyon, under the big bawlder. I used to go
thar once a year an’ sit on the rock an’ think of
him, but since I left the Shoshone kentry for
good I haVen’t visited the place.

“ That’s how I ran from a grizzly once. We
no disgrace to show the white feather under
such circumstances. how. I would have given
one of my arms if Ka-lis-ke-la had come out of
the tussle with his life, but I guess it warn’t to
be that way, an’ I had no right to murmur. I
will say this for him: A braver young Injun
never carried a heart behind a red skin.
don’t except any warrior that walks the,
ground.”

Thus ended the last srn destined to be spun
within the precincts of bite Buffalo Camp, for
the next day traps and everything pertaining
to a hunter’s equipment were packed, and with
three parting cheers the young New Yorkers

my life I got to the stone with the grizzly ri ht turned their faces bomeward,

at my heels; but the rifle warn’t tharl T at
war no time for conjecturin’ what had become
of it, an’. madder than ever, I whipped out my
knife. broke as it war, an’ turned ou-the b’ari
“My turnin’ seemed to take the old bunker
by surprise, but it didn’t last long. He got up
on his hind feet an’ we went at it. It warnt
my first b’ar-tight, but I soon thought it war
goin’ to be my last. The first blow I made with
that knife, off went the handle, just asIhad
expected, an’ the b’ar and I fell to the ground,

 

Burnt Arrow and his braves accompanied
them beyond the Blackfoot region, and then de-
parted on their way with a number of presents.

Rocky Dave was induced to visit the East
with the New York Nimrodn, but he did not en-
joy himself. The Adirondacks, he said, were
foothills compared with the magnificent Rock- _
res.

He soon returned to his old trapping round,
where, let us hope, he will not meet Old iawa,
the Blackfoot vixen who rendered his captivity

whar he got in the bug on me in spite of all I unendumble,

could do. I felt my shoulder give way, then

mv sides seemed to fall in, aa’ Isays, ‘Good- I boy—hunters in Grizzly

by, Oil Pardee.’
“But just at that moment I heard the crack

of a rifle that nearly split my ears, an’ the -

warm blood of the War poured over my face.
That war all I knowed until I came toag’in,
when I saw a sight that I see at this very min-
ute just as if it war in reality before my e as.

“ About three feet from me lay the Mir,
as a. door-nail, an’ between his fore feet war
Ka-lis~ke-la, the Injun b0 , all man led up an’
dead. too. Ithen know that the ne Armed
had taken my rifle an’ left in pursuit of another
b’ar with it, but had come back in time to save
my life and lose his’n. Of course he didn’t kill
0d Eph when he shot, for the monster bad

and ‘

grappled him an’ killed ’im afore he went un-

THE END.

We have not narrated all the exploits of the
Land, but have taken
from among the 11 any a few which they doubt-
less consider the most thrilling.

Yellowstone Oil still inhabits the wild region
of the far Northwest, having returned to it
after taking leave of the boy Nimrods.

Jack rizes his white buflalo-‘hide above all
the trop ies that he brouc ht from the Rockies, ‘
but he never looks at it without recalling with
a. shudder the terrible event that followed its
capture.

Tom has a_ bear-skin and several pairs of.
buck-horns to remind him of his adventures in
the Rockies. and Hiram has decorated his study
with some trophies of the choso.

Here we take leave of the Young Hunters of
Grizzly Land.

 

  

 

 

 

l lleerhunter, the Boy Scout of the Great North Woods.
in- on Coolnrs.

9 Buflnlo Bill, from Boyhood to Manhood. By Col. Prun-
tlss Ingrniuun.

8 Kit Carson, King oquides. Bv Albert W. Aiken.

4 Gordon Lillie, the Boy-Interpreter oi'the Pawneel. By
Mnjnr. ii. B. Smddnrd.

5 Bruln‘ Adams. Old Grizziy’s Boy Purd. By Col.

Prentiss Ingmimln.
6 Deadwood Dick on nBoy. By Edward L. Wheeler.
,7 Willi Bill. the Pistol Prince. By Col. P. Inzrnhrun.
' 8 The Prairie Ranch. By Joseph E. Rodger, Jr.

9 Roving Joe: The History of n. ” Border Boy.” By A.
H. Post.

Texas Jack. the Mustnnz King. By Coi. P. ingrshnm.

Charley Skylark. A Star ' nr‘Schnol-dny Scrapes and
College Cnpers. By Mnjor . B. Stoddard.

Mariposa Mus-ssh. By Joseph E. Bridger, .Tr.

Roving Ben. By John J. Mnrshnli.

Spring Steel, King a! the Bush. By J. E. Badger, Jr.

Wide-A wake George, the Boy Pioneer. By Edward
Wiiielt.

The Boy “'izard. Bv Bnrrv Ringzold.

Peter Pep er runs the Greenhoru fromGotllnm. B
Non. Nun.” E ’ y

Adrift on the Prulrie. and Amateur Hunters
on the Buflnlo Rulure. By Oil C(IOHICA.

The Fortune Hunter; or, ROVng Joe as Miner,
Cowboy, Trapper nnd Hunter. By A. H. Poet.
Trapper Tom, tho-Wood Imp. By T. C. linrbnugh.

Yellow “air, the Boy Chief of the l‘nwnses. By Col.
Prentiss lngrnhnni.

The Snow Trail. By T. C. Hnrbnugh.
01d Grizzly Adams, the Bunr Tnnwr.

oweil.
Woods and Wnters. By Capt. Foderlck Whittaker.

A Rolling: Stone: incidents in the Cure” on Si-annd
Lnnd ui oi. Prentiss lngrnhnm. By Wm. R. Eyster.

Red River Rove A. By C. Dunning Clnik.

Plaza and I’luin; or, Wild Adventures tif“Bnckshin
Sum." (Mnj. Sum. 5. Hull.) By Col. i’. ingrnhnm.

The S word Prim-e. 'i‘he Rnnmntic Life of Col. Mon-
Ihsry. By Cnpt. Frederick Wliitt er.

finow-Shoe Toln. By T. C. iinrhnugh.

I’qu do Lacy, the French Beast Chnrmer. By C.
Dunning Clark.

81 Round the Comp Fire.

82 White Beaver. the indinn Medicine Chief.
Przlsli-e lngruhuxn.

88 The Boy Crusader. By Capt. Fred. Whittaker.

84. The Chase oi’ the Great White Stun, Ind, Camp
and Canoe. By C. Dunning Clnrk.

<85 Old Tor Knuckle and His Boy. Chums. By

Roger Starbuch.

36 The Dunhln Dragoon; or, The Story of Gen. George
A. Cuslur. y Curt. Fred. Whittaker.

' 87 Night-Hawk George. By Col. Prentiss Ingrnlmm.
88 The Boy Exiles of Siberia. By T. C. Herbsugh.
89 The Young Beor llunters. By Morris Redwing.
40 Smart Sim, ths Lad with a Level Hand. By Edward

' Willis".

10
11

ll
18
14

15

16
1'!

18
19

21.

28 By Dr. Frnnk

’8?
ES

29
80

By Joseph E. Badger, Jr.
By Coi.

By Edward 5. Ellis.
By C. Dunning Clark.

41 The Settler’s Son.
4.9 Walt Ferguson". Cruise.

 

Nike, Five Gents.
IB 19%

>4"

//

43 Rifle nnd Revolver. By Cnpt. Fred. Whiltnker.
44 The Lost. Boy Whulurs. By T. C. Hurhnugh.

45 Bronco Billy, the Saddle Prince. By Col. Prentiss
lngrniimn.

46 Dick, the Stowaway.

4'? The Colorado Boys; or,Lii‘e on nn Indigo Plnntntion.
By Joseph E. Bridger, Jr.

By Chnries Morris.

48 The Pampas Hunters: or, New York Boys in
linenus Ayres. By '1‘. C. iinrbnuizh.

49 The Adventurous Life of Nebraska Charlie.
By Col. Prentiss ingrslmni.

50 JIM:le Harry and Tom, the Three Champion Brothers.

By npt. Fred. Wiiittnker.
51 The Young Lnnd-Lubber. By C. D. Clnrk.
52 The Boy Detectives. By T. C. Hnrbaugh.

58 llonelt ll’nrr ; or, The Country Boy Adrii't in the
City. By Chnr as Morris.

54 California Joe, the Mysterious Plainsmnn. By Coi.
Prentiss Ingrnhnm.

55 Tip Tressei, the Floater. By Edward Wiiiett.

56 The Snow Hunters; or, Winter in the Woods. By
Berry de Forrest.

57 Harry Sonnet-s, the Sailor Boy Mngicinn. By S. W.
Pence.

58 The Adventurous Life of Co tnin Jock, the
Border Buy. By Cal. Pruniiss inng mm.

59 Lame Tins, the Mule Boy 0!;the Mines. By Chnrles
Morris.

60 The Youn Troll "unto"; or, New York Boys In
Grizzly Lllll . liy 'l‘. C. linrhnngh.

01 The Tiger Hunters: or. The Colorado Boys in Ele-
phant Lnnd. By Joseph E. Badger, Jr.

62 Doctor Carver, the “ Evil Spirit ” of tho Piainl. By
Cal. Prentiss lngruhnm.

63 Black Horse Bill, the Blsndit Wrecker.
Starburk.

64 qumfi niok Talbot; or, A Boy’s Rough and Tnmhle
Fight roui New York is) Cniilnrnis. By A. W. Aiken.

65 The Bo Pilot; or, The Island Wrecker.
Prentiss nurulinm.

66 The Desert Rover; or, Stownwsy Dick Among the
Arnbs. By Charles Murris.’ ‘

67 Texas; Charlie, the Boy Ranger. By Col. Prentiss

ngm mo,

68 Little Rifle or The Youn v Fur Hunter . B ~ C t '
“ Bruin ” Adiims.’ ‘ l 3 “p am

By Roger

By Co].

69 The Youn Nihilist: or, A Ynnkee Boy Among the

Rnssinns. y Chnries Morris.

70 Pan the Cowho or Th» Ynun M rsh W R id.
By {injur H. B. swhdnrd,’nx.scom. g u n I a

71 Rufl' Robsurt and "is Bear. By Cnptnin “ Bruin ”
Adam.

Beadle’s Boy’s Library is for sale by all Newsdselers,

five cents per copy, or sent by mail on receipt oi'six cents each.
BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishers,
98 William Street, New York.