Cow-Country

It was even possible that they might, for some mysterious reason unknown to their white neighbors, decide at the last moment to bide their time. The Tomahawk outfit worked from dawn until dark, and

stily toward the Platte, And though the men rode warily

undergrowth that might, for all he knew, hold Indians waiting a chance to scalp him, driving the REMUDA close to the cabins when night fell, because no man could

s a cook who could keep the coffee-pot boiling and yet be ready to pack up and go at the first rifle-shot. They would bolt down enormous

the warmth of the coffee his teeth would chatter just at first, and he would ride with his thin shoulders lifted and a hand in a pocket. He could not sing or whist

pastures. A light breeze that carried the keen edge of frost made his nose tingle. His horse trotted steadily forward, as keen on the trail as Buddy himself; keener, for h

re no peaks. Then quite suddenly he knew that the ridge was the same, and that the stars he saw were little, breakfast camp-fires. His heart gave a jump when he realized how man

left camp and scattered, two by two, on "Circle." He had held his band well out of sight and sound of the Big Creek

steadfast faith in prayer and the guardianship of angels was justified by actual facts. Still, Buddy was too hard-headed to assume easily that angels had driven the horses up the creek so that

th his men when Buddy rode up to the cabin and told the news. The boys did not say anything muc

, we'll head for Laramie and drive everything before us as we go. But the lad may be wrong." He took

wl on his face told plainly enoug

cks up there. They think to come down on us at sunrise. There'll be too many for us to hold off

ion of a tall, uneasy brown that Dick Grimes had broken and sometimes rode. Buddy would have turned him loose and caught another, but the horses had sensed the suppressed excitement of the men and were circling and snorting in the half light

ie as a shrill, yelling war-whoop, like the yapping of many coyotes, sou

ng of the Indians. Buddy was reaching for the saddle horn when the brown horse ducked and jerked loose. Before Buddy realized what w

em all. His father and the cowboys were watching the cottonwood grove many rods to Buddy's right and well in the background, and they would not glance his way. Even if they did they would not see hi

oping hoofs. "Angels NOTHING!" Cried Buddy

to get them. The Indians were thundering down to the corral, and as he rounded the cabin's corner he glanced back and saw the foremost riders whipping their horses on the trail of the fleeing white men. But some, he knew, would stop. Eve

r that had been built into the creek bank above high-water mark. There was a pole-and-dirt roof, and because the dirt sifted down between the poles whenever the wind blew-which was always-the place had been crudely sealed inside

to relieve his lungs. It was hard to breathe naturally and easily after that swift dash, but somehow he did it. An Indian had swerved and ridden behind the cabin, and was leaning and peering in all

once traded him a jackknife for a beautifully tanned wolf skin for his mother, did not make

, and Buddy began to watch them more composedly, silently promising especial forms of punishment to this one and that one whom he knew. Most of them had been to the ranch many times, and he could have called to a dozen of them by name. They had sat in his father's cabin or stood immobile just within the door, and had listened while his mother played and sang for them. She had fed them cakes-Buddy

wished they were; red stripes on their arms, the number showing their rank in the tribe; open-seated, buckskin breeches to their knees where they met the tightly wrapped leggings; moccasins laced snugly at th

ed and killed. They cursed his father in particular, and were half sorry that they had not ridden on in pursuit with the others. The

ught burning brands from the stable and set it afire. They were very busy inside and out, making sure that the flames took h

s six-shooter. He felt pretty certain that they meant to demolish the dugout next, and he knew exactly what he mea

the dugout-and when they were on the bank within a few feet of him, and he saw that ther

This spring he had felt grown-up enough to swear a little at the horses, sometimes-and he was not sure that shooting the Indian that time would not be counted a crime by God, who loved all His creatures. Mother always stuck to it that Injuns were God's creatures-which brought Buddy squarely against the incredible assumption that God must love them. He did not

moved to one side-and the muzzle of the gun followed, keeping its aim directly at the left edge of his breastbone as outlined with the red paint. Hides-the-face craned, stepped into the path d

re is no great need of haste. Ruddy cautiously lowered his face and peered down like a mouse from the thatch, but he could not handily bring his gun to be

and Hides-the-face had his back turned so that not all of his signs were intelligible; but he gathered that these particular Indians ha

rse a relief. Still, three suns meant three days and nights, and the prospect of lying there on his stomach, afraid to move for that length of t

mained awake; and although they sat apparently ready to doze off at any minute, Buddy knew them too well to hope for such good luck. Two Indians rode in toward evening dragging a calf that

grily, wondering how l

lt safe enough to sleep without a sentinel. Hides-the-face he had long ago decided was in charge of the party, and Hides-the-face was seemingly concerned only with gor

, remembering that God could hear him. In Buddy's opinion, you never could be sure about God; He bestowed mysterious mercies and strange punishments, and His ways were past finding out. Buddy tipped his palms together and repeated all the prayers his mother had taught him and then, with a flash of memory, finish

minutes passed when a far-off murmur grew to an indefinable roar, and the wind whooped down off the Snowies so f

quiet intervals between the gusts. Just below him he could hear the occasional mutters of laconic sentences and grunted answers as the bucks set

roof. When he had crawled in he had not noticed the springiness of the poles, but now his imagination tormented him with the sensation of sagging and swaying. When his feet pushed through the opening he had to grit his teeth to hold himself steady. It seemed as if someone were reach

d to let go and drop, because it must have been pretty crowded in the cellar, and he knew the door was open, and some buck might be roosting outside handy to be stepped on. But he kne

ed twenty-five miles in two nights, going carefully, in fear of Indians. The first five miles he had waded along the shore of the creek, he said, in case they might pick up his tra

better-eat. I don' want-to lose the-habit-" Then he went slack and a man swe