Part 10 (1/2)

A great lump came in Ree's throat as he looked upon the body of honest old Jerry, and stood for a few seconds watching in a dazed, helpless way the big blue flies which buzzed about the lifeless animal in the morning sunlight. Then he saw for the first time that carion birds, buzzards, perhaps, had been feeding on the horse's flesh.

The oppressive silence and desolation of the camp were as dead weights on the lad's spirits, already burdened with most unhappy thoughts, and standing as still as the motionless trees about him, he could not summon back the resolution and courage which had kept him unfaltering throughout the night. The snapping of a twig recalled his scattered senses, however, and his sudden movement frightened a gaunt wolf which had crept up almost to the lifeless horse, and now went skulking away.

”I cannot understand--cannot think, I must get my wits to working, some way!” the boy exclaimed in a half whisper, ”what in the world can have happened?”

Again Ree's mind gained the mastery over his fatigued body and his powerful determination seemed again to drive the weariness away. He stooped and stroked but once or twice the dead horse's damp foretop, then hastened to the cart. Nothing in it had been disturbed. He looked carefully about the shelter of poles and brush which had been built, and found everything in comparatively good order. Surely things would not be in this state if his friends had been driven off or killed by Indians. It must be that they were attacked, had repulsed the enemy and had now gone in pursuit.

But why had they not returned? There was no doubt but that old Jerry had been dead at least a day, and John and Tom would, in that case, have been absent nearly as long.

With feverish anxiety Ree searched for a trail which would show the direction taken by the enemy or his friends, or both, but the sound of a stealthy footstep on the bank above caused him to spring to the shelter of a tree.

As he watched and listened, he heard voices, and quietly stepped into the open; for he would have known John's tones among ten thousand. And at the same minute John and Tom Fish saw Ree gazing up at them, and both ran toward him, John crying excitedly: ”Return Kingdom! Oh, but I am glad to see you!”

”Dutch rum an' fire-water, it's happy I am y'er back!” Tom Fish exclaimed.

”What has happened, John?” asked Ree in his usual quiet way, grasping his friend's hand.

”What ain't happened? It beats me as I ain't ever been beat yet,” Tom Fish made answer.

”It was another of those mysterious shots, Ree--the very morning you left us,” said John, putting his hand affectionately on his chum's arm.

”Another?” Ree spoke more to himself than to either John or Tom, and something made him think of Big Pete Ellis and the fellow's threats.

”It was the same sort of a shot as before, but in broad daylight,” John answered. ”We had just got the cart down into this gully and were preparing to get it up the other side, when we heard a rifle shot and--old Jerry fell dead. I saw the smoke curling out from the bushes just half a minute later, and Tom and I both ran back up the hill. But there was no one near. We did find a trail but it was mingled with the tracks of the horse and cart, and the snow being gone, we could not follow it. For miles around the woods seemed as quiet as a Sunday at home. We looked all about but--”

”Only one thing is plain, some Mingo or somebody has a grudge ag'in ye, or else there's been some consarned queer coincidences,” broke in Tom Fish. ”It beats me!”

”I don't see what we are to do, Ree! Tom and I decided just to wait here until you came back. But what have you been doing? Why, your hands and face are frightfully scratched, and you look all played out!”

”I guess I've had my hands full,” said Ree with a sad little smile. ”But tell me where you two were. Why is there no fire?”

”Such a time as we have had!” was John's sorrowful answer. ”Poor old Jerry was scarcely dead before there were hawks or buzzards circling around above us, and when night came, wolves and other animals howled all around us, and so near we would have been afraid, had we not had a big fire. Toward morning it became quieter and I was asleep, and Tom on watch, when a bear came poking around.”

”Biggest bear ye ever seen,” interrupted Thomas Fish.

”Well,” John went on, ”we both set out after that bear, though it was pitch dark. We had a long chase for nothing, though, for we caught sight of the big fellow only once, and not long enough to get a shot at him.

Coming back, it was light, and we stopped to explore the gully. But we did not expect to find you here, Ree. We would not have come back when we did, only to keep the buzzards away from the horse till we can burn the body. And I don't see what we are to do. But you haven't told a word about yourself.”

Ree was busily thinking, and for a little time made no answer. Then Tom and John spoke again, asking where he had been and what he had found.

”Why, I'll tell you,” he answered them. ”I came upon a first-cla.s.s place for a cabin, on a bluff right at the bank of a splendid little river, and a little natural clearing around it. About five minutes later I came upon some Delaware Indians and as they wouldn't believe me when I told them who I was, they made me a prisoner. I got away in the night, and here I am.”

John's eyes opened wide, and excitedly he demanded to know all the particulars of Ree's adventure. Tom Fish whistled a long, low note and almost closing his eyes, he looked toward Ree with a squint which was more expressive of his astonishment and interest than words could have been.

As the three of them sat on the thills of the now useless cart, Ree told them more fully of his experiences. Many were John's outbursts of interest, and Tom whistled in his peculiar way more than once.

”Can't more than kill us, and we may as well die that way as starve to death,” said the old hunter, as Ree spoke of the probability of the Indians soon finding their camp, and straightway he began preparations for breakfast. As they gathered about the savory meal which soon was ready, the conversation turned again to the mysterious attack which had ended the life of their horse.

John could not be persuaded that it was not some prowling Indian who had fired the shot, but Ree urged both him and Tom to be on their guard constantly and he would be the same, he said, for there was no knowing when another bullet might come whizzing toward them, nor when one of their own lives might not be thus snuffed out.

As breakfast was finished, John and Tom pleaded with Ree that he should lie down and get some rest, but he took a cold bath in the brook close by, instead, and would not listen to them further. All three were keeping their eyes open to detect the approach of Indians, for they did not doubt the savages would soon come, especially since the re-kindling of the fire had sent a stream of smoke steadily skyward, and now this signal of their whereabouts was made all the more plain by the building of a much larger fire upon and about the body of the unfortunate horse.