The Last of the Plainsmen

ll want the bay, and of course you'll want to ride Spot

t at this time at House Rock Valley, an outlyin' post of one of the big Utah ranches. He is gettin' in the horses off t

o ride over and select our mounts. Frank and Jim would follow with the pack train, and

ot have raised up at the trumpet of doom. Nothing under the sun, Frank said, bothered Old Baldy but the operation of shoeing. We made the

sorrel, and Jones a big bay; very like Jim's. I had observed, way over in the corner of the corral, a bunch of cayuses, and among them a clean-limbed black horse. Edging round on the fence I got a closer view, and then cried out that I had found my horse. I jumped down

he cowboy. "The foreman rides him often. He's the fastest, th

ave him," he continued, when

ed Jones. "You've go

lace, as his sorrel tried to bite hi

his silky coat, and patted him, and then surreptitiously slipped a lump of sugar from my pocket. This sugar, which I had purloined in Flagstaff, and carried all the way across the desert, was somewhat disreputably soiled, and Satan sniffed

, we were all busy. Old Baldy would not be shod, so we let him off till a more opportune time. By four o'cl

ng, rusty, wire-wrapped, double-barreled blunderbuss

he dogs-excepting Jude, who had been kicked and lamed-were ranging along before their master. Suddenly, right before me, I saw an immense jack-rabbit; and just then Moze and Don caught sight of it. In fact, Moze bumped his blunt nose into the rabbit. When it leaped into scared

nt in strong language,

and Moze, who had cowered as if stung, circled round

What do you mean chasing off that way

r, but Moze, being more thick-headed, appea

hot do you u

we're after. Ordinary means would never do in a case like this. My idea is to break them of coyotes, wolves and deer, and when we cross a lion trail, let t

me to time, as I stopped to catch my breath I gazed away across the growing void to the gorgeous Pink Cliffs, far above and beyond the red wall which had seemed so high, and then out toward the desert. Th

When I sat down it was as if I had been anchored. Frank solicitously remarked that I looked "sort of beat." Jim built a roaring fire and began getting supper. A snow squall came on the rushing wind. The air grew colder, and though I hugged the fire, I coul

ing's what did it You know how

aks of the Siwash, but I have, an' it's the worst an' roughest country I ever saw. Breaks after breaks, like the ridges on a washboard, headin' on the south slope of Buckskin, an' runnin' down, side by side, miles an' mil

his remark with

"But he would come. He stood the desert

fitfully merged into dark shadows under the weird pin

in' too soon. Frank's measly trick puttin' him on Spot showed me

suddenly, roused by some unusual disturbance. The fire was dead; the wind swept with a rush through the pinyons. From the black darkness came the staccato chorus of

rse as he saddled him; Wallace came stooping his giant figure under the pinyons; the dogs, eager and soft-eyed, sat around Ji

, in his big voice. "We'

ed Frank, "we've al

said I would care for my horse henceforward. Soon we were und

n of sand. The trail, narrow and indistinct, mounted the last slow-rising slope; the pinyons failed, and the scrubby pines became abundant. At length we reached the top, and entered the great arched aisles of Buckskin Forest. The ground was flat as a table. Magnificent pine t

' I bogged in places," said Frank. "The sun has been oozin' round her

rew deeper, stonier and rougher. I shifted from side to side, from leg to leg in my saddle, dismounted and hobbled before Satan, mounted again, and rode on. Jones called the dogs and complained to them of the lack of snow. Wallace

under the shadow of three cliffs. Three ravines opened here into an

ang up here. Beyond Oak is No-Man's-Land. We t

t a fire roaring on the wide stone hear

at the bottom of these ravines, we'll be up and doing. We'll each take a dog and search in different directions. Keep the dog in leash, and when he opens up, examine the ground carefully for tracks. If a dog opens on any track that you are sure isn't lion'

out. Misgivings as to my strength worried me before I closed my eyes. Once on my back, I felt I could not rise; my chest was sore

's daylight. Jim-

cold enough to make the fire acceptable, but

," drawled Jim, almost be

' we want to have things hitched right before we strike for the Siwash. We've got

r and I with Moze. Jones directed us to separate, follow the dry stream b

man could evade a wild animal in such a place, much less chase it. Old Moze pulled on his chain and sniffed at coyote and deer tracks. And every time he evinced

ne. "Jones," he said excitedly, "this way-there's the signal again." We dashed in haste for the mouth of the third ravine, and came suddenly upon Jones, kneeling under a pinyon tree. "Boys, look!" he exclaimed, as he pointed to the ground. There, clearly de

put his nose down into it. The old hound

o go. Try Sounder. Come, old

in it, and stood very quiet for a long moment; then he quivered slightly, raised his nose and so

ght a scent when the others couldn't. Hyah, Moze,

ere traveling on thin ice. He passed the dusty, open trail

him give vent to a deep bu

ing hound off the trail. "I know that bay. It means a lion passed here this morning

where Jim sat mending some saddle trappin

l smile. "Somethin's comin' off, eh? You'll hav

ed in excitement, and pushed my little R

for the dogs, and when you fall behind or separate, yell out the signal cry. Don't forget this. We're bound to lose each other. Look out for the spikes and branches on the trees. If the do

tting out one deep, short yelp. The other hounds did not give tongue, but eager, excited, baffled, kept at his heels. The ravine was long, and the wash at the bottom, up which the lion had proceeded, turned and twisted round boulders large as houses, and led through dense growths of some short, rough shrub. Now and then the li

und him puzzling over an open, grassy patch, and after n

Sounder will make a lion chaser. O

he top of the ravine first. When Wallace and I got up, breathing heavily, Jones and the hounds were out of sight. But Sounder kept voicing his clear call, giving us our direction. Off we flew, over ground that was still rough, but enjoyable going compared to the ravine slopes. The ridge

every time you turn. The dogs have gone down. That lion is in here somewhere. Maybe he lives down in the high cliffs near the spring and came up here last night for a kil

showed me how impervious he was to slashing bran

was by this time, with cramp in my legs, and torturing pain, I had to choose between

s of Jones and Wallace. A long "Waa-hoo!" drew me on; then the mellow bay of a hound floated up the ravine. Satan made up time in the sandy stream bed, but kept me busily dodging overhanging branches. I became aware, after a successio

ossing a ledge far above me, and I yelled our signal cry. The answer returned clear and sharp; then its echo cracked under the hollow cliff, and crossing and recrossing the ravine, it died at last far away, like the muffled peal of a bell-buoy. Again I heard the blended yelping of the hounds, and closer at hand. I saw

liff and over the ridge. When I again stopped, all I could hear was the thumping of my heart and the labored panting of Satan. I came to a break in the cliff, a steep place of weathered rock, and I put Satan to it. He went up with a will. From the narrow saddle of the ridge-crest I tried to take my bearings. Below me slanted the green of pinyon, with the bleached treetops standing like spears, and uprising yellow stone

metallic clicks of hoofs striking rocks. Then into a space below me loped a beautiful deer, so large that at first I took it for an elk. Another s

Moze passed over the saddle on the trail of the deer, and his sh

of the lion, and our leader had discovered it. Despite a keen appreciation of Jones's task, I gave

mp. I found it before long, and profiting by past failures to judge of distance, gave my

to a halt. I listened intently. Only an indistinct rattling of small rocks disturbed the impressive stillness. It might have been the weathering that goes on constantly, and it might have been an animal. I inclined to the form

f my horse, the waiting drove my heart to extra work. The breeze quickened and fanned my cheek, and borne upon it came the faint and far-away bay of a hound. It came again and again, each time nearer. Then on a stronger puff of wind rang the clear, deep, mellow call

d baying incessantly, sending warm joy through my veins, the absorption in sensations new, yielding only to the hunting instinct when Satan snorted and quiver

lt to get a better view under the trees. I soon made out another deer passing along

t off to intercept him. The crazy fellow-he had never responded to my overtures of friendship-uttered short, sharp yelps of delight, and actually leaped into my arms. Bu

crumbling walls, over slopes of weathered stone and droppings of shelving rock, round protruding noses of cliff, over and under pinyons Satan thundered. He came out on the top of the ridge, at the narrow

im have his will. Far down the ravine I awoke to strange sounds, and soon recognized the cracking of iron-s

Tige and the pup are faithful. The rest of the dogs are

ed to spare Moze and Sounder as

all where you and Wallace came up to me? Well, just as they jumped him, they ran right into fresh deer tracks. I saw one of the deer. Now that's too much for a

ed, of pieces of corduroy he had left decorating the cedars and of a most humiliating event, where a g

you overlook that. Well, there's the cabin. We'd better stay here a few days or a week and br

d given him a drink and hobbled him, I crept into the cabin and dropped like a log. I felt as if every bone in my body was broken and my flesh was ra