MAKING READY FOR THE TRIP
A little later, when Jack came into the storeroom, he found three
pack saddles and three blankets with various other pieces of the
riggings strewn upon the floor. Lying by each saddle was its lash
rope and cinch, its sling rope and the hackamore for the animal. A
pile of saddle blankets rested in one corner of the room, from which
those required for the trip would be selected. Hugh was rummaging in
the storeroom, and presently came out carrying a piece of canvas and
a small sack, from which he took a palm, a large sail needle with a
crooked point, a piece of beeswax, and a ball of heavy thread. These he
put on the floor, and then taking up the piece of canvas he cut from
its side a long strip about fifteen inches wide.
"What are you going to do, Hugh?" said Jack.
"Well," said Hugh, "we're liable to have considerable climbing to do in
the mountains, and while probably we won't have to make any long drives
nor climb any very steep hills, yet we may want to do both. If we have
anything of that sort to do, we want to keep the backs of our horses
in good order. If our animals are carrying any loads these will have a
tendency to slip off backward when the horse is going up hill, or to
slip off forward when coming down hill. I believe we'll save ourselves
and animals both, if we rig up breast bands, and breechings, too, on
these saddles. Of course, one of them has a crupper already, but that
does not amount to much. I believe we'd better do what I've said, and
then we're pretty sure that the loads, if they are properly lashed,
will stay put, and won't be giving us everlasting trouble."
"How many packs do you intend to take, Hugh?"
"Why," said Hugh, "I should think three will be a plenty; one to carry
our beds, war sacks, and tent; one to carry our mess outfit and grub;
and one to carry our fur, if we get any. The third horse will go light
for part of the way, and then later we can use him to save the others.
Of course, we could get along with two animals, but not so well, if
we're going to bring anything back with us; and, of course, there's
always a probability of that, though, on the other hand, we may not get
anything at all."
"Well," said Jack, "three packs aren't much to bother with, and we
ought to be able to travel fast with them."
"No," said Hugh, "three won't be much trouble, and we can get a good
start every morning, if we want to."
While they had been talking, Hugh had set a saddle upright on the
floor and had run a rope in front of it about where the animal's
breast would come, and then brought the rope back to the side of the
saddle; measuring the canvas by this, he cut off three strips, and
then doubling them over he took the palm and sail needle and with
waxed thread stitched the two edges together so that he had a double
thickness of canvas, six or eight inches wide and long enough to reach
from one side of the saddle to the other, around the animal's breast.
Similar bands were cut and sewed for breeching, and then Hugh pointed
out to Jack where one difficulty lies in using such aids to travel.
"You have got to have the breast band so low that it will press on
the breast and not on the throat, otherwise you stop your animal's
wind--choke him. Again, if you have it too low, and if it isn't held
up by anything from above, it's likely to drop down to the animal's
knees. Probably the best way for us to do is to run a string through
one edge of the band, bring it up, and pass it over the horse's neck
and down through the edge on the other side. There's less danger, of
course, of the breeching slipping down, because it will catch on the
animal's hocks. Still, I think I'll try and see if I can find a couple
of cruppers for these other saddles, and then we can tie the supports
for the breeching to the crupper band, midway of where it runs back
from the saddle. Really, to make good breeching we ought to have it so
that it can be shortened up or lengthened out, and so that it will fit
any animal that the saddle is put on. I don't see how we can get along
without straps and buckles, but as we haven't got any, we'll just put
on a couple of snaps, two or three inches apart. I'll go ahead and sew
the breeching and the breast straps on one side, anyhow, and after we
get up the animals, we can fit them."
"By the way, Hugh," said Jack, "how much grub will we want to take with
us? I told Mrs. Carter that we would be gone for a couple of months;
was that right?"
"Yes," said Hugh, "we'll be gone a couple of months, anyhow, I should
think, maybe more, but, of course, we expect to live mostly on what we
kill. We'll need coffee, sugar, bacon, and flour, and baking powder,
but it seems to me that it's not worth while for us to take much of
that sort of thing from here. If we're going to stop in Laramie City,
we can buy all that stuff there right on the railroad, and in that
case, we only need to take from here a fifty-pound sack of flour, a
little bacon, and a little coffee and sugar. Maybe Mrs. Carter would
bake us bread enough to last us for a few days, and that would save us
wrestling with frying-pan bread for a while. I reckon she would do it,
if you asked her."
"All right," replied Jack, "I'll ask her, and I bet she'll do it, too.
She has always been mighty nice to me."
"Yes," said Hugh, "she's a mighty nice woman."
For a little while Hugh sat silent, busy with his work of sewing up
the bands of canvas and attaching them to the saddles on the off side.
Presently he said, "Look here, son, it 'pears to me you're not doing
much work."
"No," said Jack, "that's so, but I don't know enough to make those
breast bands and breeching to help you, do I?"
"No," said Hugh, "I had better do this part of the business myself, but
don't you see these riggings have got to be fitted to the animals? Now,
why don't you go out and saddle up and bring in the horse bunch, and
then we'll pick out the animals we need for the trip."
"All right," said Jack, "I'll go," and he started for the door.
"And while you're about it," said Hugh, "stop up at the house and tell
Mrs. Carter that we shan't want much grub. It may save her lifting down
a lot of heavy flour sacks, and that's no work for a woman, anyhow."
"Good!" said Jack, and he ran up to the house and explained to Mrs.
Carter what Hugh had said.
A little later he was in the saddle, and spurring Pawnee over the hills
north of the ranch, looked for the horse bunch. He knew about where
they would be found at this time of the day, and at this season of
the year, and before long he rode over a hill and saw them scattered
out before him over a level hay meadow on which the grass was just
beginning to be green. In a few moments he had rounded them up and
started them toward the corral, but without hurrying them, for in the
bunch there were a number of little colts that were rather shaky on
their spindly, crooked legs, and he did not want to hurry them. In
fact, as they trotted along toward the ranch, he let several of the old
mares and colts drop out by the way, trying only to keep the young
horses headed for the ranch. Presently the bunch trotted over the last
hill and down to the gate of the corral, and stopped. Jack rode around
to one side, got off and dropped his reins, let down the bars, and then
remounting rode behind the horses and drove them in. Then he hitched
Pawnee to the fence, and went into the storeroom to report to Hugh.
Hugh's job seemed to be over, though one end of each band of the
breeching and the breast straps was still free from the saddle.
"Well," said Jack, "you've worked pretty fast, Hugh, haven't you? I
have the horses all in now, and if you'll come out and pick the ones
you want, I'll catch them and tie them up, and we'll let the others go
again."
Hugh rose to his feet and went up to the corral, carrying with him the
three hackamores that belonged to the saddles they had selected. He
looked over the bunch very thoughtfully, and then said to Jack, "Catch
that bay with the bald face and the white hind feet."
Jack stepped into the corral and threw his rope, but the bald-faced bay
dropped his head and crowded in among the other horses so the rope slid
off. Coiling the rope again, Jack stepped forward to the bunch, and as
the horses started to run around the corral he made a quick throw and
caught the bay, and led it over to where Hugh stood. Then he put the
hackamore on it and took it out to the gate and tied it to the fence.
"Now catch the big dun," said Hugh, and in a few minutes Jack had him,
and the hackamore was put on him.
"Now," said Hugh, "take that heavy-set, iron-gray colt. He's only
three, and don't know nothing, but he's gentle enough and it's time he
learned. We'll let him be the third of the pack animals, and when he
comes back he will be a good pack horse.
"Now let the others out," said Hugh, after Jack had brought over the
iron gray. "We'll put these horses in the hay corral to-night, and then
when morning comes we'll know where they are; but first we've got to
fit these saddles to them. Let's go down and bring up the blankets and
the saddles and see how they go."
One after the other the pack saddles were cinched on the horses, each
one having a good roll of blankets under it.
"These confounded horses are so fat now," said Hugh, "it's a hard
matter to make the saddles stick on them anyway. It's a good deal like
trying to cinch up a barrel; but they'll lose flesh after they've been
on the road a little while, and luckily there's no load for them to
carry just now. I'm putting on more blankets than I would if these
horses were a little thinner. I hate to put too many blankets under a
saddle. It's just as bad as not putting enough, and mighty likely to
make a horse's back sore."
"Now," said Hugh, after the saddles were all in place, "let's measure
these bands, and then we'll mark them with a pencil and this afternoon
or to-night I'll fix them up so that they'll be in shape to put on
to-morrow morning."
The work did not take long. The breast and breeching bands were brought
around against each animal's breast and hips, and the place where they
should be attached on the near side was marked with a pencil. After
this was done, the saddles were taken off, the horses, with their
hackamore shanks tied up, were turned into the hay corral, and Hugh and
Jack went back to the storeroom.
While Hugh continued his work on the saddles, Jack sat cross-legged on
the floor watching him and asking many questions.
"Are you going to take a tent with you, Hugh?" said Jack.
"Yes, sir," said Hugh. "I can get along all right without a tent, when
I know it ain't going to rain or snow, but when I know it's going to
rain I am powerful partial to some kind of shelter. Of course, if we
had a small lodge, and we were sure we could get lodge poles wherever
we went, I'd prefer a lodge, but as we can't have just what we want,
I'm going to have a tent. Your uncle has got the nicest kind of an A
tent with jointed poles, and I expect he'll be willing to let us have
it. At least, I'm going to ask him for it. I don't reckon it will be in
use at all this summer. You must understand that up in the mountains,
and especially at this season of the year, we're likely to have lots of
rain, and maybe some snow, and certainly plenty of thunder storms. Now,
of course, you can get along all right when it's wet, and you can cook
in the rain and eat in the rain and eat wet grub, too, if you have to,
but I've always found that a man was just a little bit better off and
more comfortable if he kept dry, and I've found, too, that it doesn't
take much more work to keep dry than it does to keep wet. These jointed
poles are the greatest things out. When they are taken apart they are
about three or four feet long; there are only six pieces. They lash
first class, and make a good top pack. They give you a chance, too, to
put up a tent wherever you are, and into the tent you can bring all
the things you want to keep dry. 'Most always you can arrange things
so that you can do your cooking under some sort of cover, and even if
you do get a little damp you can dry off in front of the fire, go to
bed dry, and sleep dry at night. Your saddles, your ropes, and your
blankets all are kept dry, and that helps you a whole lot in getting
away in good shape and season in the morning. It only takes a few
minutes to put up a tent, but those few minutes and the extra work will
be more than paid for some night When perhaps it snows hard, and you
know that if your things were lying out in the weather it might take
you half a day or all day to go around and dig them out of the snow, or
in fact you might have to wait until the snow melted before you could
find them again."
"Well, Hugh, it seems to me it's a pretty good idea to take a tent,
especially if we're likely to strike such weather as you tell of."
"We're likely to, of course," said Hugh; "but that doesn't mean that we
will. I've seen it perfectly fair up there in them mountains day after
day and week after week, but then, again, I've seen it rain and snow
for weeks at a time. Yes, we'd better take a tent by all means, unless
it is going to be in the way."
Hugh had finished his work on the pack saddles long before supper time,
and the two went up to see what grub Mrs. Carter had laid out, carrying
with them two rawhide panniers, which were to hang one on either side
of a pack saddle, and in them they packed the grub and carried them
back to the storeroom.
The load was a light one, and Jack did not stagger under his share of
it.
After supper that night, Mr. Sturgis talked with Hugh and Jack and told
them that he agreed with them that they had better start as soon as
they could, and be gone as long as they liked.
"You will be pretty close to the settlements all the time, I take it,"
he said to Hugh, "and if either of you feel like it, I should like to
have a letter from you from time to time, telling me how you're getting
along and what you are doing. Of course, I don't want to have you feel
obliged to carry on a correspondence with me, but whenever you do get
within reach of a postoffice let me hear from you that you are all
right. I know you are both pretty well able to take care of yourselves,
and I shan't do any worrying about you, but I have a curiosity to know
what fur you find, and generally what you see down there in those high
mountains. I have never been down there myself, and if I had the time I
should like to go with you. I hear that there is some great fishing in
those streams. To-morrow morning I will get out my trout rod and reel
and some flies, and you had better take the outfit with you. You should
be able to carry it so that it won't break, and very likely there will
be a good many times when you can catch some fish. You won't suffer
for things to eat, because there is plenty of game in those mountains
down there. You will have a good time, and maybe you will catch beaver
enough to make a coat apiece. Do you expect to see any Indians, Hugh?"
he asked.
"Why, yes, Mr. Sturgis, I reckon we will see some Utes, but they are
all quiet now, since they killed their agent and had a fight with
Thornburgh's command. I always had an idea that the truth of that
business never came out, and that the Utes had a good deal more to
stand than any of us know about, before they broke out the way they
did. I lived down on the edge of their country once, for several years,
and knew most of the Uinta Utes, and they were always good and kind
people, and brave, too. You know they were always at war with the
Pawnees, Sioux, and Cheyennes, and in fact with pretty much all the
Plains people, and they generally managed to hold up their end pretty
well, too."
"Well," said Mr. Sturgis, "when can you get ready to start?"
"Why, I reckon we can get off soon after day to-morrow morning, if you
think best," said Hugh.
"By all means," said Mr. Sturgis. "You haven't wasted any time, have
you? Got everything ready?"
"Yes," said Hugh, "everything. I was thinking that maybe we would not
take much grub along with us; not more than enough to last for six or
eight days, and then we could buy the supplies for the main trip at
Laramie, if you think best."
"That's a very good idea, Hugh," said Mr. Sturgis, "and you had better
do it. I will give you an order on the store at Laramie for whatever
you want, and you can travel light until you get there; then you will
have to load up heavy, but there is a good road down into the Park, I
hear, and perhaps you can cache a part of your supplies down there,
after you get there."
"I guess that's a good idea," said Hugh. "Maybe we'll do it."
"Well," said Hugh, after a pause, "if it's all settled we start
to-morrow morning, I reckon I'll say good-night and go to bed."
Jack and his uncle sat a while longer in front of the fire talking, and
then they went to bed.