Pluck on the Long Trail

t was good woodcraft, for a boy twelve years old to sneak up on him and catch him with a willow pole and a line tied fast and a grasshopper, when regular fishermen with fine ou

ut Jed had been smart. A trout usually lies with his head up-stream, so as to gobble whatever comes down. But here the current set in with a back-action, so that it made a little eddy right against the bank-and a trout in that particular spot would have his nose downstream. So Jed fished from the direction opposite to th

, I guess, you ought to do what th

t, so we quit; Jed and I stripped off our wet clothes and took a rub with a towel an

ad (or what people would call biscuits), and wild raspberries with condensed milk. General Ashley and Kit Ca

thes were dry. We stuffed our boots with some newspapers we had, to help them dry. (Note 19.) While we were resting, Fit

imber, at the upper end of the pond and across, and was standing. Maybe he thought we didn't see him, but we did. And he

spoke, in a low tone: "He acted suspicious. We ought to reconnoiter. Scouts Fitzpatrick and Bridger will circle around the

and where the creek was narrow we crossed on some rocks, and followed the opposite shore down, a few yards back, so as to cut the spy's tracks. I might not have found them, among the spruce needles; but Fitzpatrick the Bad Hand did. He foun

ks so easily; but he had stepped on some soft sand and mud. We knew that he was not a large man, because we had seen him; and we didn't believe that he was a p

left-handed,

" I a

e?" and then

t of Fitz, I thought. But

yards he had had a horse. We read how he had been riding through, and had stopped, and got off and walked down to the pond

ry; then we let it go, and met General Ashley, to report. General Ashley and Kit Carson al

p at a trot into the timber? It would seem as if he might have been afraid that we had seen him, and he didn

nything, maybe, by starting on, near night, and getting caught in the timber in th

er families. Fitzpatrick started in to take chipmunk pictures-and you ought to see how he can manage a camera with

le we were there so that Fitz could take a picture of it, too. Bears don't hurt people unless people try to hurt them; and a bear would sooner have raspberries than have a man or boy, any day. Fitzpatrick thought that if he could get a good picture of a bear, out

d at our camp. The horse had left ear swallow-tailed and was branded with a Diamond Five on the right shoulder. The man was

y?" h

you?" we

nd yawned-but his sharp eyes we

hing?" h

g through," said

ng f

o Green

lki

s,

for beaver

ad p

some about here. Co

place for beaver because the only one

ked up. "W

And the general w

t last. "Somebody's been trapping beaver in here, and

he genera

lish

s,

r circle D on the left hi

ut we think the man was lef

hy

eft shoe, and that would look as though he used his left foot more

n grunted. He

st be regula

ar

But it's this fellow on the roan hoss I'm after. He's been trying to sell pelts. There's no use my trailing hi

eral to

of Pil

s,

he ridge? That's an old survey trail. It crosses to the other side. Over beyond you'll

and he mounte