The Buffalo Runners | Page 7

hear!"
"Yes, I understand," returned the youth with intense earnestness. "Now
look here, Dan, you know me: will you trust me?"
"Of course I will," answered Dan with a languid smile.
"Well, then; come along, we'll rescue Elspie--you may depend on that.
Okematan and I will look after you and see that all goes right. Come."
He took his brother by the arm, and led him unresistingly away,
followed by the dark-skinned Indian, who, with the usual reticence of
his race, had stood like a brown statue, silently observing events.
Jessie Davidson, who was a fair and comely maiden, touched him on
the arm as he was passing out--
"Oh! take care of him, Okematan," she said, anxiously.
Okematan replied "Ho!" in a sort of grunt. It was an expressively
uttered though not very comprehensible reply; but Jessie was satisfied,
for she knew the man well, as he had for a considerable time been, not
exactly a servant of the house, but a sort of self-appointed hanger-on, or
unpaid retainer. For an Indian, he was of a cheerful disposition and
made himself generally useful.
When they were outside, it was found that the gale had abated
considerably, and that the moon was occasionally visible among the
clouds which were driving wildly athwart the heavens, as though the
elemental war which had ceased to trouble the earth were still raging in
the sky.

"Peter," said the brother, as they stood for a moment beside two Indian
sledges, one of which was laden with provisions, the other
empty--"Peter, don't forget your promise. Lay the whip on heavy.
Nothing else will keep me awake!"
"All right! Sit down there for a moment. We're not quite ready yet."
"I'd better not. No! I will stand till it's time to start," returned Dan with
a dubious shake of his head.
"Didn't you say you would trust me?"
"Yes, I did, old boy."
"Does it look like trusting me to refuse the very first order I give you?
What an example to Okematan! I am in command, Dan. Do as you're
bid, sir, and sit down."
With a faint smile, and a still more dubious shake of the head, Dan
obeyed. He sat down on the empty sledge and the expected result
followed. In a few seconds he was asleep.
"Now we'll pack him in tight," observed his brother, as he and the
Indian stretched the sleeper at full length on the sledge, wrapped him
completely up in the warm buffalo-robes, and lashed him down in such
a way that he resembled a mummy, with nothing visible of him except
his mouth and nose.
Four strong large dogs were attached to each sledge in tandem fashion,
each dog having a little collar and harness of its own. No reins were
necessary. A track beaten in the soft snow with his snow-shoes by the
Indian, who stepped out in front, was guide enough for them; and a
tail-line attached to the rear of each sledge, and held by the drivers,
sufficed to restrain them when a stretch of hard snow or ice tempted
them to have a scamper.
The road thus beaten over the prairie by Okematan, though a
comparatively soft one, was by no means smooth, and the rough

motion would, in ordinary circumstances, have rendered sleep
impossible to our hero; but it need hardly be said that it failed to disturb
him on the present occasion. He slept like an infant throughout the
whole night; cared nothing for the many plunges down the prairie
waves, and recked not of the frequent jerks out of the hollows.
Hour after hour did Peter Davidson with his silent companion trudge
over the monotonous plains--hope in the ascendant, and vigour,
apparently, inexhaustible. The dogs, too, were good and strong. A brief
halt now and then of a few minutes sufficed to freshen them for every
new start. Night passed away, and daylight came in with its ghostly
revelations of bushes that looked like bears or buffaloes, and
snow-wreaths that suggested the buried forms of frozen men.
Then the sun arose and scattered these sombre visions of early morning
with its gladdening, soul-reviving rays.
At this point the rescue-party chanced to have reached one of those
bluffs of woodland which at that time speckled the plains--though they
were few indeed and far between.
"Breakfast," said Peter, heaving a profound sigh as he turned about and
checked the teams, for at that point he happened to be in advance
beating the track.
Okematan expressed his entire concurrence with an emphatic "Ho!"
The wearied dogs lay down in their tracks, shot out their tongues,
panted, and looked amiable, for well they knew the meaning of the
word "breakfast" and the relative halt.
The sudden stoppage awoke the sleeper, and he struggled to rise.
"Hallo!