Pluck on the Long Trail

loating low about their tips, and lying in the gulches like streams and lakes. Above timber-

killed the fire, and General Ashley put camphor and cotton against little Jed Smith's back tooth, to stop some aching. Maybe there was a hole in the tooth, or maybe Jed had just caught

rung up again, so that really it wasn't a regular trail unless you had known about it. The blazes on the side trees had closed over. But all the same, b

stle the more, to get out of the thin timber, so that we would not be struck by l

ast pace that General Ashley set. The burros had to trot, and it made little Jed Smith, who is kind of fat, wheeze; but we stuck it

looked like gray smoke. The sun was just being swallowed. Well, all we could do was to wait and take it, and see how bad it was. W

imber. And soon it was raining below us, down at the beaver pond

rps, too; and if we had stretched the tarps then the rest of our packs would have suffered. The best way is to crawl under a spruce, where the limbs have grown clos

ghtened and the drops pelted us well, we sang our Patrol s

is our

us very

is our M

is our M

is our M

us very

oooooooo

hunder boomed

er is our

we weren't

e burros and started on again. In just a minute we were warm and swea

k. We knew it was Dixon's Park, because the timber had been cu

elled everything in sight, so that now there were only old stumps and dead logs. It looked like a graveyard. If the mill had

the bottom. There weren't any fish in this creek; the mill had killed the timber, and it had drive

ed us. Little Jed Smith was only twelve years old, and we had to travel to suit him and not just to suit us bigger boys. I'm fourteen and Major Henry is sixteen. All the afternoon was showery; first we were dry, then we were wet; and there wasn't much fun about sloshing an

made traveling good, and we hiked our best. Down in a gulch beside us there was a stream: Dixon's Creek. But we kept to the high ground, with our

oss country. Even cowboys will tell you that. They bed dow

d with a whirl dug in his heel as sign that we would camp here. There was wood and drainage and grass for the burros, and no d

ck picked out a spot for his fire and Major Henry chopped wood, two of us unpacked each burro.

rifle and shoot a couple of rabbits. There

he sun was shining once more, and the shadows were long in the timber, so I turned to hunt against the sun, and put my shadow behind me. Of course, that wouldn't make very

ut then before dark, and nibble about. And you can walk on the wetness withou

I had walked about twenty minutes, I did see a rabbit. He was hopping, at one side, through the bushes; he gave only about three hops, and squatted, to let me pass. So I stopped stock-still, and drew up my rifle. He was about thirty yards awa

s tail were brown; young rabbits are white there. He hopped off, without stopping, and I whistled at him-wheet! Then he stopped

cle, to cut him off; and soon he hopped again and squatted. This time I shot him through the head, where I aimed; so I didn't hurt him, either. I picked him up and was starting back for camp, because two rabbits were enough, when

spoken; but when he wasn't more than ten

"Hello," he panted. "Was it you

es

e on, then?" he sco

I said. "I stood still and

d you sh

bbi

've got something better than that, but we can't make a fire and our matches are all wet and s

d dirty and sweaty fro

doing? Campi

we could carry; but we got to chasing around and we missed the trail and now

on the

a f

I nodded

t the other fellow and then we'll ca

ight,"

k flowed. Now, that was the dickens of a place to camp! Anybody ought to know better than to camp down at the bottom of a narrow gulch, where it

ket, trying to scratch a match and light wet paper. He wore

h me. "Here's a kid from another ca

ered their blankets and a

t boy (his name was Walt); and he showed m

hat wa

law to kill grouse

are?" he answered

w," spoke Bat. "We got the old mother and all he

e. Just because of them, laws are made, and

straight course for camp. It was easy to find, because I knew that I had hunted with my back to it, in sound of the

for a wind-break and to reflect the heat. Inside were the spruce needles that carpeted the ground and had been kept dry by branches, and a second tarp had been laid to sleep on, with the third tarp to cover us, on top of the blankets. The flags had been set up. Fitzpatrick was cooking, Major Henry was dragging m

bits they gave a cheer. After I reported to General Ashley and t

ill wore his big six-shooter. They dropped their grouse in plain sight, but nobody said a word

If you'll clean 'em w

't want them," answ

y n

gainst

Walt. "There aren't any game wardens 'round. And

er, no matter how long it is before the law opens, or if a game warden was right here!" He wa

d tell, then; wouldn

o; and so would any of us. "The game laws are made t

are

who keep the law let the game live on purpose so that everybody will have an equ

they sat; and Bat said: "We've got to have something

ered General Ashley, "if

ls of the big fire. But Fitz made bread enough for all, and there was other stuff; and the general told them to help them

; and then they squatted by the fire and lighted pipes. After our dishes had been washed and things had been put away for the night, and the burros

n with us, under the ta

e used to traveling light. We just roll up in a bla

at message through. So we crawled into bed, out of the wind and where the spruce branches partly sheltered us, and our tarps kept the dampness out and the wind, too. The two fell

and Sally, the burros, once in a while grunted as they stood as far inside the circle as they

d huddled Injun fashion with their blankets over their shoulders, smoking their old pipes, and thinking (I guessed) that they were doing something big, being uncomfortable. But it takes more th

ched, the sun was shining