On the Trail of Pontiac or, The Pioneer Boys of the Ohio

and breadth of North America. The Indians hunted the animal industriously, but

white hunters rounded up the buffaloes at every possible opportunity, in order to obtain the pelts. This soon caused the animals to thin out and flee to the westward, beyond the Mississippi, where they

at the sudden appearance of the shaggy-headed beast. He gave a yell of alarm, which was fol

as flat, and the buffalo made a plunge for the forest beyond. Henry heard a groan from Dave, as the

-headed, he rushed into the little clearing back of the trees.

answered Henry. "He burst upon us

f the tent. Barringford reloaded and ran on after the buffalo and Henry did l

. "If he hadn't he wouldn't ram into things so

led with eager desire. "We would have fresh meat

ill the buffalo kept on, much to the sur

as I reckoned on,"

hit him at all," w

rocks were smooth and slippery, and in a twinkling He

Barringford in quick alarm. "S

thirty feet in height, below which were some jagged rocks an

to where, and dropping his gun he caught at the wet rocks and bushes which came to hand. But his downwar

... rolled over and o

after Henry but for fear of meeting a like fate, dropped on his breast in the wet and worked his wa

hed up," he groaned. "Why didn't I have sense enough t

winter had washed away and loosened much of the ground, and once he felt a

liff. He could look down into the gully beyond but no

called lou

ut no answer came back. His fac

in," he muttered. "Like

e used in dragging the elk to the Morris homestead. Taking this, he tied it to

see only with the greatest of difficulty. The torrent ran among rough rocks and bru

Where

was thoroughly alarmed. He remembered how Mrs.

mehow," he told himself. "

liff terminated at a point several hundred yards to the southward. Accordingly,

ater. Three times he fell and when he arose he was plastered with mud from head to feet. But he did not turn back, and every minute wasted only ad

"Joseph and his wife allers looked to me to keep an eye on him. They expect me to be keerful. 'Twasn't right at

d over the rocks. He was now a quarter of a mile from where Henry had taken

daylight. Wet to the skin, and shivering from the cold, he moved on as well as he was able. Again

On his back he carried Henry's rifle as well as his own, having picked it up wh

e rocks to get some dry kindlings. But everything was thoroughly wet around him and tho

resh alarm he found his way out of the torrent and next encountered som

is breath. "An' all along o' thet confounded buffalo, too. Reckon he's miles an

ed him that Henry was no

come of the you

e water and got drowned and somethin' is holdin' him under. One thing is sartin, if thet's so t

istening with all the acuteness of which his trained sense of hearing was capa

ere is to it. I've got to face the music and tell the

have been lost. But he had taken note of the way he had come and remembered every bush, tree, and rock, and now he returned by the same route. It wa