Part 4 (1/2)

”Wal, if you younkers are as hungry as me, we'll have a bite.”

They were in the middle of the undulating plain, with no wood or water in sight; but that was a small matter. In a twinkling all three were out of their saddles, and the guide unstrapped a large bundle from its fastening to the saddle of his pony. This, being unwrapped, disclosed a goodly portion of cooked and tender steak and plenty of well-baked brown bread. Furthermore, there were a couple of bottles of milk--enough for two meals at least.

These having been placed on the gra.s.s, the bits were removed from the mouths of their horses, who were allowed to graze while their masters were partaking of one of the most enjoyable meals they had ever eaten.

”If I'd expected to be alone,” explained Hazletine, ”I wouldn't have brought this stuff with me, but we may not see a maverick or any game all the way home. I wouldn't mind it, but I don't s'pose you are used to it.”

”I should say not,” replied Jack, as well as he could, while his mouth was filled with bread, meat and milk; ”I'm hungry enough to eat a mule.”

”And I feel as if I could chew his saddle,” added Fred, laboring under the same difficulty in speaking clearly. ”If our appet.i.tes keep up at this rate, there will be a shrinkage among the cattle in Wyoming before we go home.”

”What do you mean by a maverick?” asked Jack of their guide.

”It's an unbranded cow or calf that don't b'long to n.o.body, and consequently it don't make no difference whether n.o.body or somebody brands or kills it.”

The rhetoric of this sentence may not have been faultless, but its meaning was clear to the boys. They ate until they wished no more, and were vastly relieved to note that something was left for another meal.

”That'll see us through till morning,” said Jack, ”but how about to-morrow and the next day?”

”If we don't see anything to kill, we must wait till we git to the ranch.”

Fred groaned.

”You'll have to tie me in the saddle, for I shan't be able to sit up.”

The smile on the face of the guide raised the hope that he was not in earnest in making this dreadful announcement, but neither Jack nor Fred were quite easy in mind.

The halt was less than an hour, when the three were in the saddle again.

Hazletine, instead of pressing directly toward the ranch that was their destination, bore to the left, thus approaching the Wind River range.

”There's a little settlement off to the right,” he said, ”of the name of Sweet.w.a.ter; we could reach it by night, but it takes us a good many miles out of our path, and there's nothing to be gained by losing the time.”

”Are you following a straight course to the ranch?”

”Pretty near; but I'm edging to the left, toward the foot-hills, 'cause there's better camping-ground over there.”

This was satisfactory, and the youths were not the ones to question a decision of so experienced a guide and mountaineer. Besides, they had hope that one reason for the slight change of course was that it increased the chance of obtaining game. For the present, the question of food supply was the most absorbing one that demanded attention. Other matters could wait, but a st.u.r.dy, growing lad finds his appet.i.te something whose cravings can be soothed only by the one method that nature intended.

CHAPTER III.

ON GUARD.

The beautiful weather continued unchanged throughout the afternoon. As the sun declined in the sky there was a perceptible coolness in the air, but the exercise of riding removed all necessity for using their blankets.

Although the party had been edging toward the foot-hills for hours, it seemed to the boys that they were as far off as ever. They had covered many miles, but those who have travelled in the West know the deceptive character of the crystalline atmosphere, so far as distances are concerned. However, as twilight began closing in they reached a small grove of trees, which was the destination of the guide from the first.

It was there he meant to camp for the night, and he could not have selected a better place had he spent a week in looking for it.

The grove covered less than an acre, the trees standing well apart, and wholly free from brush and undergrowth. Thus even the horses could pa.s.s back and forth freely. Over this shaded s.p.a.ce the dark-green gra.s.s grew luxuriantly, with a soft juiciness of texture which made it the ideal food for cattle and horses. In the middle of the grove bubbled a spring of clear cold water, whose winding course could be traced far out on the plain by the fringe of deeper green which accompanied it.