The Young Lion Hunter | Page 8

me. Navvy came next,
leading Marc. Ken was third, and Jim, with a watchful eye on Hal and
the pinto, brought up the rear.
The few miles of good road between Kanab and Fredonia, another little
hamlet, we made at a jog trot, doing the distance in something over an
hour. Outside of Fredonia we hit the trail, and went down and down
into the red washes, and, over the sage speckled flats. It grew dusty and
hot. About noon we reached the first slow roll of rising ridge, and from
there on it was climb. More than once I looked back, and more than
once I saw Hal having trouble with his pinto. Once Wings, as if he
really had wings, flew off across a flat, and spilled Hal into the sage.
Navvy got tired walking and climbed up on the grain-sacks on Marc,
but he did not stay there very long. Then my pack horse made trouble
for me by shying at a rattlesnake and getting off the trail. The time
passed swiftly, as it always passed when we were on the move, and we
reached the first cedars about three o'clock. Here I saw that our train
was stretched out over a mile in length. Navvy was having a little ride

on Marc, but Ken limped along before his mustang, and Hal changed
from side to side, from leg to leg, in his saddle. The boys were
beginning to show soreness from riding.
The sun had set when we made the head of Nail Gulch. Here a spring
and a cabin awaited us, also a little browse for the horses.
"I've got a lame knee, all right," remarked Ken. "Thought I was in good
shape."
"No matter how hard you are it'll take three days or more to break you
in," I said.
Hal came straggling along behind Jim. He fell off his pinto and just
flopped over against a cedar.
"Gee! but ain't it great! Ken, look at those cliffs!"
"Wait a couple of days, Hal. Then I'll show you some cliffs," I said.
It took Jim and me only a little time to unpack, build a fire in the cabin,
bake biscuits, and get a good supper. Navvy led the horses to water,
hobbled them and turned them loose. Then we had our meal. Ken and
Hal were supremely happy, but too tired to be jolly. Darkness found
them both asleep, and Hal threshed about as if he were having wild
dreams.
At daybreak Navvy awakened me coming in with the horses. It began
to appear that the Indian would be a welcome addition to our party.
Finding the horses in the morning was work for me, and sometimes
long and arduous work. And Jim, rolling out of his blanket and blinking
his eyes, drawled: "Wal, pretty fair for an Injun, pretty fair!"
The boys heard us, and roused themselves, bright and eager, though so
stiff they could scarcely stand erect. In an hour we had breakfasted,
packed, and were in the saddle. This morning Wings did not seem to be
so frisky.

"Boys, to-day will be a drill and no mistake," I told them. "Ride as long
as you can stand it, then walk a bit...Here! Look over the far side of the
gulch. See that long black-fringed line with the patches of snow? That's
Buckskin Mountain. To-night we'll camp under the pines. And Ken,
there're pine-trees on Buckskin that dwarf those in Penetier."
We struck out into the trail, and then began a long, tedious,
uninteresting ride. Nail Gulch was narrow, and shut in the view. Low
bare stone walls and cedar slopes extended for miles and miles. It was a
gradual ascent all the way, but this did not grow perceptible until about
noon. I laughed to see Ken and Hal fall off their saddles, hobble along
for a while, then wearily mount again, presently to repeat the
performance. The air grew cooler, making gloves comfortable. About
three o'clock the gulch began to lose its walls, and we reached the first
pines. They were not large, and straggled over the widening gulch, but
as we climbed the trail they grew more numerous. The early shades of
night enveloped us as we rode out of the gulch into the level forest.
Here and there patches of snow gleamed through the gloom. This
solved the question of water, and we made camp at once. A blazing fire
soon warmed us. We had a hearty supper of bacon, hot biscuits, coffee,
and canned vegetables. Ken and Hal were so tired and sore that they
could scarcely move, but that did not affect their appetites. Then we sat
around the campfire.
By this time the forest was black and the wind roared through the pines.
It was not