CHAPTER XIX A CALAMITY.

IT seemed too good to be true, and yet all doubt vanished with the words spoken by the Blackfoot.

“I can’t say I liked the way Black Elk acted when we first met,” said Victor, “but he has proved himself more of a man than I supposed. I hope now he won’t punish Young Elk for running away from me.”

“Why not?”

“Because I gave him enough. Anyway, whatever the father did to his boys has been already done, so we needn’t worry over it.”

“Mul-tal-la,” said George, “you haven’t any doubts left?”

“It is wrong to doubt; the words of Black Elk were true; he spoke with a single tongue. My brothers need not fear.”

“Why don’t those Shoshones of his come back and see us through the mountains? It strikes me that that is the right thing to do.”

“No; they will stay with the Cas-ta-ba-nas and hold them back if they try to do us harm. They will be with them till we are far away; then they can go back to Black Elk and tell him that all has been done as he ordered.”

“It is better than I thought,” said the pleased George. “I don’t suppose we are likely to run against any more of those people; if we do, we can fall back on these reserves.”

The Blackfoot silently led the journey for an hour longer. No one observing the surety of his movements would have thought he had been over the route but once before. Everything appeared to be as familiar as if he had spent his life in the mountains. The trail continued to ascend and soon became harder to travel. Several times it looked to the boys as if they would be checked and turned back, but their guide always found a course that permitted the passage of their horses’ feet.

“This is well enough,” finally remarked Victor, “but I don’t see the need of it. We did a good deal of traveling to-day, and if those Indians to the rear are friendly what’s the use of hurrying to get away from them?”

“I don’t think Mul-tal-la means to travel much farther.”

Even as George spoke the Blackfoot halted. He had been pushing on in order to reach the most favorable spot for camping. It was found near the base of a mass of black frowning rocks, from beneath which bubbled a tiny stream of ice-cold water. This formed a deep pool close to the rocks, and then dripped away in the gloom of the boulders, trees and undergrowth. The place was sheltered against the arctic winds which sometimes rage at this altitude, and indeed was so attractive that while our friends were gathering fuel and preparing for camp, they saw it had been used more than once for the same purpose by other hunting parties in the neighborhood.

Hardly had the animals been relieved of saddles, bridles and the pack, and the fire started, when the three were given a taste of the variable climate of that section. Although summer had fully come, the wind moaned and howled through the trees at the summit of the rocks and on their right and left. Suddenly Victor called out:

“It’s snowing!”

In a twinkling, as it were, the air was filled with blinding flakes, which eddied and whirled about the three and covered their bodies with its white mantle. The horses found protection by huddling close to the pile of stone, though the temperature was not very low.

The flurry passed almost as quickly as it arose. In a few minutes the air was as clear as before, and the moon shone from an unclouded sky. The friends gathered about the fire, which was soon burning vigorously.

It was the turn of George Shelton to go on guard for the first part of the night, changing places with his brother at the usual hour. Since this duty had to be divided among three persons, the Blackfoot would do his share in the early half of the following evening, alternating with George, while Victor would be given rest. This plan was kept up when Deerfoot was absent, so the division of the work was as equitable as it could be. When the party included four people the arrangement was simpler.

The action of Mul-tal-la removed any lingering misgiving the boys may have felt. Had the Blackfoot been distrustful of the honor of Black Elk, the Shoshone chieftain, he himself would have acted as sentinel for the first portion and probably throughout all the darkness; but, while the night was still young, he wrapped himself in his blanket and stretched out to sleep, Victor Shelton speedily doing the same.

Left to himself, George Shelton entered upon his task in his usual deliberate manner. The fire was replenished from the wood that had been gathered, and with his gun resting on his shoulder he marked out a beat over which he slowly tramped to and fro. At the middle of the course he moved in front of the fire, so that any foe lingering near could have seen him clearly, and, had he been so disposed, picked off the youth without risk to himself.

George at first felt a natural shrinking when he knew his form was shown in relief against the yellow background, but after the pacing had been kept up for an hour or so without molestation this feeling passed off, and his thoughts became tranquil. He often peered into the gloom which walled him in on every hand, pausing and listening, but hearing nothing unusual. His expectation was that some prowling beast would be attracted by the light of the camp-fire, but it was the summer time, when they were not likely to be pressed for food, and nothing in the nature of an attack was to be feared from wolves, bears or any species of forest creatures.

The youth looked up at the sky, which was clear and cold. The moon gave only slight illumination, and now and then he traced many of the constellations, as he and his brother had often done when at home or when on the trail in the leafy solitudes. He gazed at the Pleiades, which to him and Victor were always the Seven Stars, and again noted the peculiarity of that beautiful group with which I am sure you are familiar. When you look at the stars fixedly and try to count, you can see but six, but glancing abruptly at them the seven are visible. He recalled the fancy that one of the cluster was so modest that when stared at it shrinks from sight, to steal into view again after the scrutiny is removed. It seemed to George that he never looked at the heavens on a starry night without his eyes immediately resting upon the Dipper, as he and his friends called a portion of the constellation of Ursa Major. Then, too, he traced the Little Dipper, located Orion and the North Star, and in the loneliness of the hour mused upon the One who had launched all these stupendous orbs into space and set them spinning over their mighty orbits, as they shall spin until time shall be no more.

Who can look at the worlds circling through the dome of heaven without being profoundly awed by his own insignificance and the infinite greatness of the Author of all these marvels? How little and mean seem the affairs of this life when we are brought into such intimate communion with the wonders that are beyond the grasp of the greatest intellect!

But the hours wore on and George was still tramping to and fro when he saw Victor sit up, fling aside his blanket and rise to his feet. Impressed before falling asleep with the duty that awaited him, he awoke at the right minute without external help. The two exchanged places after a few words, during which George made known that he had not seen or heard anything to cause alarm.

The experience of Victor was quite similar to that of his brother, and when the gray light of the morning began stealing through the mountains the slumber of the Blackfoot had continued unbroken. He showed no surprise over the report of the boys. Upon leaving the camp of the Cas-ta-ba-nas the night before it was with a feeling of certainty that Black Elk had carried out his promise in spirit and letter.

While the boys bathed faces and hands in the crystalline pool, the Blackfoot strolled off, bow and arrow in hand, in search of breakfast. Wild turkeys were so plentiful in the mountains that he soon came back with a big, plump bird, from which they made their usual excellent breakfast. He told the boys that the meal must suffice until night, for he did not mean to halt any longer than necessary to rest the horses. Two meals a day are enough for anybody, and it is slight hardship for a hunter or traveler to get on with a single repast.

Soon after the journey was resumed the trail began to descend, but shortly rose again, though not to the same extent. The air was clear and sunshiny, and before noon, despite their elevation, which was not great, the heat became uncomfortable. To relieve the animals and for the sake of the exercise all needed, the three walked most of the time, Mul-tal-la keeping his place at the head, while the brothers trailed at the rear.

It was slightly past noon when they paused to rest their animals. The spot was in a valley-like depression, through which wound a stream of clear, cold water. A little to the right of the trail this expanded into a pool or pond several rods across and fifteen or twenty feet deep. The water, however, was so transparent that the stones and pebbles could be plainly seen in the deepest portion.

The temptation was too great to be resisted. Victor’s eyes sparkled.

“George, we must have a swim! I never saw a finer place. Who’ll be first in?”

The Blackfoot, like most of his race, was much less fond of water than the Caucasian. Mul-tal-la smiled at the ardor of his young friends, and remarked that he would stroll down the trail to refresh his memory as to the route. Then he passed out of sight, and the boys were left to themselves.

“This is a good chance to do our weekly washing,” said George, as they began disrobing; “it’s time we attended to that.”

It was the practice of the boys and Deerfoot to look after that indispensable work at regular intervals, for they had not the excuse of the lack of opportunity, since rarely were they out of sight of water. So the brothers brought their underclothing from the pack of Zigzag and laid it on the bank to don when their swim was over. Then they cleansed that which they had taken off, as well as they could without the help of soap. I am afraid they hurried through with the task, for in a very brief time they were frolicking in the icy water and enjoying themselves as nobody in the world can enjoy himself unless he is a rugged youngster, overflowing with health and animal spirits.

They dived and swam; they splashed and tried to duck each other; their happy laughter rang out, and it seemed to them as if they could do nothing finer than spend the remainder of the day in the pool. If the first contact with the icy element gave them a shock, it also imparted an electric thrill which tingled from the crown of the head to the end of the toes, and made them shout and cry out in the wanton ecstasy of enjoyment.

But in due time they felt they had had enough and the moment had come to don their clothing again, leaving that which had been washed spread out and drying in the sunlight. They reluctantly emerged from the pool and gingerly picked their way over the pebbles.

Victor was a few paces in advance. His brother was in the act of leaving the water when Victor uttered an exclamation:

“Great C?sar, George! Somebody has stolen our clothes!”