The Last of the Chiefs | Page 6

to go with the train.
"That settles it," he said, turning away. "You can do as you please, but
what happens after we get into the Black Hills is another thing. Likely,
we'll scatter."
The sound of his retreating footsteps quickly died away in the darkness,
and Bright Sun, too, slid among the shadows. He was gone so quickly
and quietly that it gave Dick an uncanny feeling.
"What do you make of it, Al?" he asked his brother. "What does Bright
Sun mean by what he said to us?"
The glow of the flame fell across Albert's pale face, and, by the light of
it, Dick saw that he was very thoughtful. He seemed to be looking over
and beyond the fire and the dark prairie, into time rather than space.

"I think it was a warning, Dick," replied Albert at last. "Maybe Bright
Sun intended it for only you and me. But I want to go up there in the
Black Hills, Dick."
"And so do I. It'll be easier for you, Al, than the trip across the
continent. When you are a mile and a half or two miles above the sea,
you'll begin to take on flesh like a bear in summer. Besides, the gold,
Al! think of the gold!"
Albert smiled. He, too, was having happy thoughts. The warm glow of
the fire clothed him and he was breathing easily and peacefully. By and
by he sank down in his blanket and fell into a sound sleep. Dick
himself did not yet have any thought of slumber. Wide-awake visions
were pursuing one another through his brain. He saw the mountains,
dark and shaggy with pine forests, the thin, healing air over them, and
the beds of gold in their bosom, with Albert and himself discovering
and triumphant.
The fire died down, and glowed a mass of red embers. The talk sank.
Most of the men were asleep, either in their blankets or in the wagons.
The darkness thickened and deepened and came close up to the fires, a
circling rim of blackness. But Dick was still wakeful, dreaming with
wide-open eyes his golden dreams.
As the visions followed one after another, a shadow which was not a
part of any of them seemed to Dick to melt into the uttermost darkness
beyond the fires. A trace of something familiar in the figure impressed
him, and, rising, he followed swiftly.
The figure, still nebulous and noiseless, went on in the darkness, and
another like it seemed to rise from the plain and join it. Then they were
lost to the sight of the pursuer, seeming to melt into and become a part
of the surrounding darkness. Dick, perplexed and uneasy, returned to
the fire. The second shadow must certainly have been that of a stranger.
What did it mean?
He resumed his seat before the red glow, clasping his arms around his
knees, a splendid, resourceful youth whom nature and a hardy life had

combined to make what he was. His brother still slept soundly and
peacefully, but the procession of golden visions did not pass again
through Dick's brain; instead, it was a long trail of clouds, dark and
threatening. He sought again and again to conjure the clouds away and
bring back the golden dreams, but he could not.
The fire fell to nothing, the triumphant darkness swept up and blotted
out the last core of light, the wind, edged with ice, blew in from the
plains. Dick shivered, drew a heavy blanket around his own shoulders,
and moved a little, as he saw the dim figure of Bright Sun passing at
the far edge of the wagons, but quickly relapsed into stillness.
Sleep at last pulled down his troubled lids. His figure sank, and, head
on arms, he slumbered soundly.
Chapter II
King Bison
"Up! Up, everybody!" was the shout that reached Dick's sleeping ears.
He sprang to his feet and found that the gorgeous sun was flooding the
prairie with light. Already the high, brilliant skies of the Great West
were arching over him. Men were cooking breakfast. Teamsters were
cracking their whips and the whole camp was alive with a gay and
cheerful spirit. Everybody seemed to know now that they were going
for the gold, and, like Dick, they had found it in fancy already.
Breakfast over, the train took up its march, turning at a right angle from
its old course and now advancing almost due north. But this start was
made with uncommon alacrity and zeal. There were no sluggards now.
They, too, had golden visions, and, as if to encourage them, the aspect
of the country soon began to change, and rapidly to grow better. The
clouds of dust that they raised were thinner. The bunch grass grew
thicker.