Track's End Page 17

  CHAPTER XIV

  I have an exciting Hunt and get some Game, which I bring Home with avast deal of Labor, only to lose Part of it in a startling Manner:together with a Dream and an Awakening.

  I had not had my eyes to the loophole ten seconds when I found outsomething more about the coming invaders; what I had taken for cattlewere buffaloes, a thing which surprised me very much, for they wereeven then extremely scarce. There were about a dozen of them, and theywere coming on all in a bunch and throwing up the snow like alocomotive.

  I saw that the buffaloes would follow the swell of ground and that itwould bring them in close to town, and perhaps right across the squarebetween the stores and the depot. But I did not believe that theycould ever flounder through the drifts to the south and east, so itseemed as if the hunters would overtake them so near that they wouldprobably stay and again take possession of the town. I think I shouldrather have seen the outlaws coming. I decided to fire at them and seeif I could not drive them off. But it was not necessary. I think someof them must have been the same Indians that called on me ChristmasDay, and went away so suddenly, without stopping to say good-by.

  I am sure of this, because when still a good half-mile from town theystopped and began circling around, and waving their guns in the air,and making all sorts of strange motions. I suppose they were trying todrive away the evil spirit which they thought was in the place, andwhich I had had in the pumpkin lantern, and which had also been inFitzsimmons's barrel. Then one of them who had been sitting still onhis horse rode a little forward and got off, and I could see a thinribbon of blue smoke arising. I suppose he was the medicine-man of thetribe making medicine to frighten the evil spirit; or rather, perhaps,to get up their own courage to face it. This kept up for half an hour.The buffaloes in the mean time had walked slowly along till they werenot much more than a hundred yards away, and stood looking at thehouses in the greatest wonder; the first they had ever seen, it issafe to say.

  But it appeared that the Indian's medicine did not work any betterthan white men's medicine sometimes does; for they began very slowlyto go back the way they had come. I could see them stop often, andcircle around and, I suppose, hold long talks; but they could not getup their courage to venture closer to the place where the awful spiritwith the flaming eyes and the fiery teeth had looked down upon themand chased them with his terrible limping gait. At last they passedentirely out of sight.

  My next thought was, of course, to try getting a buffalo myself, sinceI needed fresh meat as badly as the Indians, or worse. But by thistime they had drawn back some distance and were out of range for anybut a very good marksman, a thing which I was not. I should have tofollow them, which I decided to do quick as a flash. Through thetunnel I rushed and out to the barn. In another minute I brought outDick saddled and bridled. He had not been beyond a small yard for amonth. He began to jump like a whirlwind. How I ever got on with mygun I don't know, but I think I must have seized the horn of thesaddle and hung to it like a dog to a root, and some of his jumps musthave thrown me up so high that I came down in the saddle. Anyhow, Ifound myself riding away straight south as if I were on a streak ofchain-lightning.

  This would not do, so I pulled with all my strength and tried to turnhim. I might as well have tried to turn a steamboat by saying "haw!"and "gee!" to it. But the pulling on the big curb-bit made him mad andhe stopped and began to buck. I hung on with all hands and legs, andat last he bucked his head around in the right direction, and then Iyelled at him, making the most outlandish noise I could, and hestarted across the square and straight for the buffaloes as if he hadbeen shot out of a gun. You may see the exact course we took, andwhere the buffaloes were, by looking at my map. This map I have drawnwith great care and much hard labor, spoiling several before I got oneto suit me. I hope every one who reads this book will look at the mapoften, since it shows the lay of the land very well, I think, and justwhere everything happened.

  When Dick saw the buffaloes I think he knew what was up, because hebegan to act more reasonable. They saw me coming and stopped andlooked back surprised. I thought they were going to wait, but theysoon galloped on. I saw I must go to one side if I wished to getwithin range, and turned to the right. In a few minutes I came upabreast of them and within easy range, but I soon found that though Icould guide my horse I could not stop him, pull as hard as I might. Icould not even make him stop and buck again. He was going straighttoward the north pole, and I thought it would not take him long to getthere. One way to stop him came to me. It was a rash plan, but I sawno other.

  Ahead and a little more to the right was a mighty bank of snow in thelee of a little knoll. It sloped up gradually and did not lookdangerous. I turned him full into it. At the third jump he was down tohis chin, and I had gone on over his head. When at last I struck Iwent down a good ways beyond my chin; in fact my chin went down first,and if any part of me was in sight it must have been my heels. All Iknew was that I was hanging to my gun as if it were as necessary as myhead.

  Why the breath of life was not knocked out of me I don't know, but itwasn't, and I kicked and thrashed about till I got my head andshoulders to the surface, with a peck of snow down the back of myneck. I looked for the buffaloes, and there they stood in blankastonishment, wondering, I guess, if I always got off of a horse thatway. I ran my sleeve along the barrel of my rifle, rested it over alump of frozen snow and fired at the nearest one, which was standingquartering to me. I saw the ball plow up the snow beyond and to theleft. They all started on. As mine turned his side square to me Ifired again. He went down with a mighty flounder. The others rushedaway. I waded nearer and finished him with one more shot.

  Dick was still aground in the snow, snorting like a steam-engine, butby the time I had tramped the drift down and got him out he was overhis nonsense and carried me back to the barn quite decently. I was allfor skinning and dressing my buffalo. To Taggart's I went and got somegood sharp knives, and, taking Kaiser and the sled, started back. Idon't think I ever worked so hard in my life as I did at that job. Itwas not very cold, which was one good thing. Every minute I expectedthe wolves, and I did not have long to wait either. Before threeo'clock they came howling along the trail the buffaloes had made, andI had to stop and fire at them every few minutes to keep them off. Iam sure they were not so hungry as usual or I never could have keptthem back at all. Twice I killed one when I shot, but I dared not goup and get them, and they were soon devoured by the others. The packkept growing larger as others came over from the timber north of theButte.

  At last I got off the hide and loaded it on the sled. I wanted to takeall of the meat, but it made too big a load, and I had to be satisfiedwith two quarters. I even had to give up taking the head, which was afine large specimen. A little after four o'clock as the sun began tosink low the wolves became bolder, and I knew it was not safe to staylonger. The load was more than Kaiser could pull, so I saw I must takehold and help him. I fired five or six shots at the wolves as fast asI could pump them up, seized the rope and off we went. We were not tenrods away when the whole pack was upon the carcass fighting andtearing at it. They kept up the hideous battle all night and howled somuch that it seemed as if their throats must be worn raw.

  Once back home I set at my regular work tired enough. But the fireswere all low and I expected a day or two more of good weather, and theease with which the Indians and buffaloes had got down from the northmade me fear more than ever the coming of the outlaws from the west. Istill had little hope of ever getting out of the place alive, but Icould only work on and do all I could for my safety.

  I laid the quarters of meat on some boxes in the shed and bolted thedoor. I was so tired I think I must have slept sounder that night thanfor a long time. In the morning I found that the shed door had beenforced open, one of the bolts being torn off and the other onebroken. Even the hinges were bent. A big piece of the best part ofeach quarter was gone. I could not tell if it had been torn off orhaggled off with a dull knife. It might even have been gnawed o
ff; Icould not tell.

  I looked for tracks of the robber with, as the saying is, my heart inmy mouth; but to no purpose. Although it had neither snowed nor blownduring the night, a deep layer of frost, like feathers made out of thethinnest ice, had settled everywhere toward morning and I could findnothing.

  That this new reminder of my unknown enemy brought on another attackof terror I need hardly say; but it was daylight and I conquered itbetter. The worst feeling I had to fight with was that whatever thething was, it might be looking at me as I moved about town. I thoughtI saw eyes peering at me, sometimes of one kind, sometimes of another,out of every window, through every crack, over every roof, aroundevery corner, from behind every chimney; even the tops of the freshlymade snowbanks, blown over like hoods, were not free from them; andwhen I looked out on the prairie I expected to see something comingto catch me. I could scarce tell if I were more afraid on top of thedrifts or under them in my tunnels, for here I constantly expected tomeet something, or look back and see eyes. I think the loneliness andthe strain of the expected robbers must have half turned my mind. If Ihad known what to look for and dread I think I should not have caredso much, but, not knowing, I imagined everything and became moreterrified about I knew not what than were the Indians at my pumpkinlantern. Sometimes I was sorry that I had driven the Indians away; andthere were times when I thought I should be glad to have the Pike gangcome, just for company.

  Three days after the buffalo hunt, in the night, I thought the ganghad come indeed; I was not more frightened at any time while I was atTrack's End than I was that night. I had gone to bed as usual in theempty building, taking in my drawbridge and closing both windowsbehind me. The northwest wind had died away at sundown, and the nightwas still and the sky becoming cloudy. I looked for an east wind thenext day and probably snow later.

  What hour I woke up I knew not, but it must have been about midnight.I know I awoke gradually, because I had a long dream before doing so.I thought a giant was shouting at me from a grove of green trees on ahillside; it kept up for a long time, deep, hoarse shouts which fairlyshook the earth; I could not see him, but seemed to know what he was.I was not frightened, but stood in a meadow listening. Then there wasa crash of a tree falling on the hillside, and the giant's shouts cametwice as loud, and I awoke and fought the bed-clothes off my head andknew it was Kaiser barking.

  At first this did not startle me, since he often barked in the hotelat night, sometimes at the wolves, and other times, I had reason tothink, at the thing which prowled in the night. The next instant Irealized that his barks were much louder and that he was nearer. Istarted up and saw that a dull, flickering light was coming throughthe cracks in the boards over the window and moving on the wall. Ithought of northern lights, then saw that it was on the north walland not on the south. I leaped to the window and peeped out a crackand saw that there was a great fire somewhere; the snow was lit uplike day almost, and I could see black cinders floating above thebarn.

  I got into such of my clothes as I had taken off and rushed to theside window. Here the light did not come much, but I could see Kaiserstanding with his feet on the hotel windowsill and his head andshoulders out the window. He had smashed through the glass, as he hadthat day when the wolves came. Not once did he stop his terrificbarking.

  I pushed up my window and seized the drawbridge. I started to put itacross, as I had done so many times before, but I was so excited andin such a foolish fright that it slipped out of my hands and fellbetween the buildings. I stood a full minute unable to move. The lowerpart of the hotel window was divided into two panes, and Kaiser hadbroken one of them. I could see that he had cut himself, and I wasafraid of doing likewise. But there was no other way to get out. I puton my mittens and got out of my window, clinging to the upper sashand standing on the outside sill. Then, with a prodigious step, Ilanded on the other sill, seized the opening regardless of the jaggedglass, crouched down and plunged into the room head first. Kaiser haddrawn back as he saw me coming, but as I shot into the room he boundedin front of me, and we rolled over together there on the floor in thedarkness. I was half dazed, but knew I smelled smoke, and heard thecrackling of a great fire.