The Hunters of the Ozark | Page 3

the immense
forests which at one time covered almost the entire face of our country.
On the south side of the town and distant a furlong wound a creek,
which after many shiftings and turnings found its way into the
Mississippi and so at last into the Gulf of Mexico. The course of this
stream was so winding that it extended on two sides of the town and
ran in a westerly direction, exactly the opposite of that it finally had to
take in order to reach its outlet.
As a rule, it was about twenty feet wide with a depth of from one or
two to six feet. It was subject to tremendous overflows which

sometimes tripled its volume and increased its width to that of a river.
At such times a series of enormous rocks through which the creek at
"low tide" lazily wound its way, lashed the turbid current into a fury
somewhat like that seen in the "whirlpool" below Niagara. Could you
have stood on the shore and looked at the furiously struggling waters,
you would have been sure that even if a man were headed up in a barrel,
he could not have lived to pass through the hundred yards of rapids,
though there was reason to believe that more than one Indian had shot
them in his canoe.
Terry Clark told his friend that his search of the night before and of the
morning following had been to the north and west of the settlement, so
that it was hardly worth while to continue the hunt in that direction.
The cows sometimes stood in the water, where so much switching of
their tails was not needed to keep away the flies, and, though there was
quite a growth of succulent grass on the clearing, the animals often
crossed the creek and browsed through the woods and undergrowth on
the other side.
The boys were inclined to think that the brindle had taken that course
during the afternoon and had actually gone astray,--something which a
quadruped is less likely to do than a biped, though the former will
sometimes make the blunder. There was nothing unreasonable in the
theory that the bell had fallen from her neck and that the owner
therefore might be not far away.
At intervals, Terry shouted "Bos! bos! bos!" the Latin call which the
cow sometimes recognized, though she generally paid no attention to it.
It was the same now, possibly due to the fact that she did not hear the
call.
Reaching the edge of the stream, the boys began walking along the
bank toward the left and scrutinizing the spongy earth close to the
water. If the missing animal had crossed the creek she could not have
failed to leave distinct footprints.
CHAPTER II.

THE TINKLE OF A BELL.
The examination of the shore of the creek had lasted but a few minutes,
when Terry Clark, pointing to the moist earth at their feet, called out in
some excitement:
"Do ye mind that now?"
There, sure enough, were the footprints of a cow that had entered the
stream from the same side on which the boys stood. The impressions
could be seen for some distance in the clear water, which in the middle
of the stream was no more than a yard deep, and they were plainly
observed where the animal had emerged on the other side.
"I don't suppose there is any difference in the tracks of cows, but I
guess, Terry, that we are safe in making up our minds we are on the
trail of Brindle."
"I'm thinking the same," replied the other, who was not only looking
across the creek, but into the woods beyond, as though he expected to
catch sight of the cow herself; "though it may be the one that crossed
there isn't the one that we're after."
Fred Linden was asking himself whether there was not some way in
which they could reach the other side without going to the trouble of
removing their shoes and leggins, and hunting a shallow portion, or
allowing their garments to become saturated. He exclaimed: "Why
didn't I think of it? There's our canoe!"
A number of these frail craft were owned in Greville, and Fred had a
fine one himself, which was only a short distance off. Three minutes
later the two reached it.
The barken structure was moored by means of a long rope to a tree a
considerable distance from the water, so that in case of one of those
sudden rises that sometimes took place, it would not be carried away by
the freshet. The boat was quickly launched, and a few strokes of the
paddle carried the two to the opposite bank of the stream.

"I wonder whether there is any danger