HUGH GOES "ON DISCOVERY"
Meantime, Hugh was loping fast up the bottom of the Platte, on the
trail of the horses. It seemed to him to have been made the day
before; and this would agree very well with the length of time that
the mare bearing Mr. Sturgis' brand seemed to have been dead. It
was not easy to tell, out here in the open under the hot sun and in
the dry wind, just when the tracks had been made.
An hour or two of hard, fast riding brought him to the point
where he had come upon the trail that morning, and he could see,
looking ahead, that here it turned off and struck in toward the
hills, apparently to go up one of two valleys. There was water in
both,--not much down here on the dry bottom, but further back in
the hills and among the timber he knew that these streams were
running brooks, and that on both there were wide grassy meadows
and places very likely to be chosen by people driving a bunch of
horses, in which to stop and let them feed and rest. If he had been
following Indians who had driven off a band of horses that they
had stolen from an Indian camp, he would have gone carefully, for
Indians would have left behind scouts who, from the top of some
high hill, would have watched the back trail for at least a few
hours; but he did not think that white men would do this. He had
reason to think that if these were rustlers--horse thieves--they
had gone over the range after the horse round-up was over, and
gathering these horses, had driven them slowly, perhaps by night,
until they had got beyond the last ranch, and then had hurried them
along, hoping to get them out of the country without observation.
On the other hand, these might not be horse thieves, but might be
people who were driving their own stock in a legitimate way, for
some purpose of their own; but he could not understand how this
should be, and the presence in the bunch of an animal with Mr.
Sturgis' brand made him feel that he must investigate.
The trail led toward the westernmost of the two valleys, and Hugh
followed it. The sun was almost down when he got well into the
valley, but he could see that the horses were still going fast, and
he hurried the dun along, for he was anxious if possible to find
the herd that night. It grew dark rapidly, but still he rode on,
galloping fast over the grassy bottom, and going more slowly only
when he came to the crossings of streams, or to rocky ground, where
his horse's hoofs made some noise. Of course the dun, like all
the other horses, was unshod, so that there was no clink of iron
against stone, to be heard at a distance.
After he had ridden for three or four hours in the dark, he
stopped, took off his saddle and bridle, and holding the rope which
was about the dun's neck in his hand, let the animal walk about.
It took a few bites of grass, and then lay down and rolled three
or four times, and then getting up, shook itself. Then Hugh put
the saddle on, re-mounted, and went forward. All the time he was
looking and listening as hard as he could. He had gone but a little
distance beyond this place, when suddenly he heard the whinney of a
little colt, and stopped.
Taking his horse by the bridle he walked forward, and before he had
gone very far saw a horse standing near him, and then another, and
presently a number of horses, and knew that he was in the midst of
the bunch. He took a long look on every side. The valley here was
wide, but on either side he could see the black mountains rising,
and he did not know just how far the timber came down into the
valley. Now he wanted to find where the camp was, and mounting his
horse he took a long look up and down the stream on both sides, and
there on his right, and not far off, he detected what he thought
was the glow of a fire.
Passing on north, until he had gone well above the place where he
supposed the camp must be, he tied his horse to a little bush, and
then walking over to the edge of the valley, close to the stream,
he silently drew nearer to the camp. Before long he was close
enough to see the dim light of the fire, and knew that some where
near it must be lying the men who had the horses in charge. This
was enough for him. He went back, got his horse, and going further
up the stream, crossed it, and finding an open place sat down,
holding his horse's rope in his hand until the animal had eaten its
fill. Then, still on foot, he climbed the mountain, tied up his
horse in a thick bunch of brush where it could not be seen, took
off the saddle, and after eating some dried meat, went along the
mountain side back to a point opposite the camp, and finding a
smooth place, lay down, wrapped himself in his saddle blanket, and
went to sleep.
It was still dark when he awoke, but he sat up, stretched himself,
and involuntarily felt in his pocket for his pipe, and then smiled
a little as he recollected that now he could not smoke. He folded
his blanket, and laid it behind the trunk of a tree, and then very
slowly began to make his way down the mountain side toward the
camp. Before he had gone far, he began to hear the calls of early
waking birds, and to be conscious that in the little patches of
sky that he saw from time to time the stars were growing paler.
He went very slowly and carefully, feeling his way with hands and
feet, never brushing against the branch of a tree, or stepping on
a stick which might crack. The men in the camp below were probably
fast asleep and would not notice the sounds that he might make, but
the matter was too important for him to run any risks. After a time
it grew lighter, and presently he could hear below him the rattle
of the water as it flowed over the stones; and as it grew more and
more light, the dim shadows of the horses in the open, and the dark
outlines of the bushes on the stream were seen. The mountain side
just over the camp was steep and thickly clothed with spruces,
most of them of large size, but with many small ones growing among
them. If he had himself chosen a place for these men to camp, he
could not have selected one that would have been better suited to
his purpose. As the light grew stronger, he worked down closer and
closer to the camp, until he was as near it as he dared go. Then
he began to look about for a place from which he could see it,
for first of all he wished to discover who the men were who had
the horses. It might be that this would at once explain the whole
matter.
After a little manoeuvering he found a place where, through the
thin branches of a young spruce, he could look directly down into
the camp. There were the ashes of a fire, and not far from it, on
the smooth dry grass, were three piles, two of them covered with
canvas such as cow punchers commonly use to wrap their beds in, and
the other with a gray blanket. He knew that he might now have to
wait a long time, and was prepared to exercise patience. He had set
his gun on the hillside, against a tree, where it would not fall
down, and at the same time would be in easy reach of his hand if he
should need it.
He sat there for an hour, occasionally looking at the sleeping men,
but for the most part studying through the glasses the horses that
fed not far from him.
After the light grew strong but a glance was needed to see that
this was not a bunch of work horses, but was range stock, picked
up anywhere. He could see the fresh brands on colts and yearlings,
and could recognize some of them without his glasses. Through the
glasses these fresh brands, many of which had as yet scarcely
begun to peel, stood out very plainly, and in many cases the old
brand could readily be distinguished. Besides this, there were
many horses which he perfectly well knew, without seeing the
brands,--animals that he recognized as occupying the range which
he was accustomed to ride over. He chuckled to himself as he saw
these, and thought, "My, my, wouldn't Mr. Sturgis and Powell and
Joe be hot if they were here;" and then he thought, "I wish they
were here, for if they were we could take in these three fellows
mighty easy."
From what he had already seen Hugh had made up his mind that this
was a bunch of horses stolen from the range about the Swiftwater
ranch, but he wished to wait a little longer in order to be sure
who the men were who had them.
After a while, one of the heaps that he was looking down upon
stirred, and a few moments later the covering was thrown off, and a
man sat up.
He rubbed his eyes sleepily, and stretched and yawned, and finally
put his hand under the edge of his blanket, pulled out his shoes,
and then put them on and stood up. Hugh chuckled as he recognized
Red McClusky, a man whom he well knew as living along the railroad.
He was a cowboy who had come up from Texas and had worked at odd
times on the range, but who spent most of his time in the town,
consuming bad whiskey and occasionally disappeared for a few weeks,
and then turned up again.
McClusky filled his pipe and lighted it, and then going over to the
fireplace, began to kindle a fire, at the same time calling out,
"Here, get up, you lazy cusses; the sun's high, and we want to get
breakfast." Soon after this the other two men sat up. One of them
was Black Jack Dowling, another bad character along the railroad,
well known to Hugh; but the third was a boy or young man, whom Hugh
did not know, with a pleasant but rather weak face, who seemed a
little bit afraid of both his companions.
Dowling seemed in rather bad temper, and as he walked toward the
creek growled at McClusky, asking him why he hadn't let them sleep
longer. "We've had an awful hard ride," he said, "and I feel as if
I could sleep all day, and all to-morrow too."
"Pshaw," said McClusky, "that's no ride; if you're goin' to let a
little pleasure gallop like that tire you out, you'd better stick
to holding up trains. I feel as fresh to-day as if I hadn't been in
the saddle for a week; don't you, Pete?" he laughed, speaking to
the young man.
"Yes," said Pete, "that wasn't no ride. I guess Jack here aint much
used to the saddle."
Dowling snarled out "Used to the saddle or not, you don't stir me
out of this for two days more."
"Well," said McClusky, "it don't make much difference when we go
on, but I want to get these horses up north before snow comes, and
we've got quite a ways to go. We ought to leave here to-morrow,
sure; anyhow, the day after to-morrow."
The fire was now burning, and operations for breakfast went on.
The coffee-pot and frying pan were brought out from beneath the
willows; Pete brought some water, and McClusky cooked, while the
other two sat by the fire and smoked. Hugh had now seen enough,
and began very slowly to work his way up the mountain. It was not
long before he was out of sight and hearing of the camp, and taking
up his blanket on the way, he went on up the stream. Gradually
descending the hill, he at length reached the valley's level, and
spent some time in the willow and alder bushes, studying the
horses that were within sight. As nearly as he could figure, there
were about a hundred head of horses, and most of them seemed pretty
tired. After feeding for some time, they lay down and were seen
resting all over the meadow.
Returning to his horse, he led him for a long distance up the
stream, to a point where the timber on both sides reached out well
into the valley, and here crossing a little open spot, which was
almost out of sight of the horses below, he turned down the stream,
and keeping himself always well back from the valley in the timber,
again stopped opposite the camp. From here, for a time he watched.
The men loafed about the camp; but toward the middle of the morning
the boy walked out among the horses, and catching one that was
evidently picketed, took it back to camp, saddled it, and rode up
the stream. He was not gone long, and indeed did not pass out of
Hugh's sight. His only purpose was to round up the horses, driving
those up stream down opposite the camp, and when he had done that
he rode down stream and started the animals that were feeding there
up to the others.
Hugh could now make a close estimate of the number of the animals,
and after having counted them a number of times, he made up his
mind that there were between ninety and a hundred. Of these three
seemed to be picketed, and he took careful note of their location,
for he had already made up his mind what he intended to do.
After the boy had rounded up the horses he caught A fresh horse,
put it on picket and then riding back to the camp, unsaddled and
turned loose the horse he had been riding.