awful good time, and won't see no trouble. I just wish't I was goin' with 'em."

"No," said Mr. Sturgis, "I don't think they'll have any trouble; Jack's a level-headed fellow, with a good deal more discretion than most boys of his age. There's a bare chance of course that they may meet some hostile Indians, but they're well mounted, and I don't think they'll have trouble."

For the first two or three miles after their start the horses went on very well, but about the middle of the morning, those that Jack was driving began to give him a little trouble. They were now getting into a country away from their usual range, and began to try to turn about and go home, and for the next half hour Jack was pretty busily employed turning back one after another that fell out of line and tried to retrace its steps. At length Hugh halted and dismounted, and motioning Jack to drive the pack horses by him, they sat down, and while Hugh smoked, had a little talk.

"Are they bothering you much?" asked Hugh.

"Yes," said Jack, "they keep trying to go back all the time; and that Dun is the worst of the bunch; he just won't go on."

"Well, we'll have to try to shove him along as far as Powell's place, and when they get a little tired, toward afternoon, likely they'll go better. I wouldn't be surprised though if it wouldn't be a good idea for us to borrow a horse from Powell, for you to ride during the day. I don't want you to run Pawnee down, chasing horses; I want to bring him into the Piegan camp fat, because I expect you'll do all your buffalo running on him. He's fat and strong now, and you don't weigh much, but still its pretty hard work running here and there, trying to keep a bunch of horses together, even if there's only three or four of 'em."

"Yes," said Jack, "I want to keep Pawnee in good shape, but I think that after the horses get used to their loads, and get used to travelling together, they'll go better, won't they?"

"I expect they will, and we needn't make up our minds about getting any horse until we get to Powell's. Maybe to-morrow we'll get Charlie to ride out with us for two or three hours, and help drive them horses. I expect if we can get 'em started right to-morrow, they'll go along pretty good."

After fifteen or twenty minutes they mounted and started on again. The horses had been feeding busily all this time, and now when they were driven along after the lead horse, they went more quietly, and made less trouble. Still, the day seemed a long one to Jack. They passed plenty of antelope on the prairie, but he had no time to think of them; he felt obliged to watch the horses constantly, and to keep them as close behind Hugh as he could. The prairie was full of pleasant sights and sounds, but there was no chance for him to enjoy them.

He felt very glad when, late in the afternoon, the low buildings of the Powell place came in sight. Half an hour later they were near enough to see the men working about the house, and then to see two figures in skirts come to the door and look out at them, and then at last to hear the delighted whoop of Charlie and the cheery greeting of Mr. Powell, as they came forward to shake hands with them. The horses were quickly unpacked and put in the pasture, the loads put under cover, and then all the family gathered around Jack and Hugh to hear the news from the neighbouring ranch.

"So you're really going to make that trip you talked about, are you, Jack?" said Charlie. "I tell you I'd give all my old boots if I were going along."

"So would I mine, Charlie," Jack replied. "I'll bet we could have a good time together. It's a great chance. You see, we're going up into the buffalo country, and we're going to be with the Indians, and see what they do and how they live. There ain't many fellows have a chance like this, and I wish you could be one of 'em."

"Well," said Charlie, "I know I can't; I've got to stay here and chase around over this prairie, riding for stock and killing wolves, when I might be going up there with you. It seems pretty hard, but I don't know as I ought to complain. I know father needs me, and now we're just getting a good start in stock, and if I were to go away he'd have to hire somebody to take my place, and he couldn't afford to do that. You see, father ain't like your uncle; I expect your uncle's a pretty rich man, but father ain't got anything except what you see here, and what stock we've got out on the range; then, besides that," he added, "I don't believe mother would be willing to have me go; she thinks it's awful dangerous for you and Hugh to go up there alone. We talked about that often last winter, and she said she didn't believe your mother'd ever let you go."

"Well," said Jack, "I don't believe there's much danger, because if there was, Uncle Will wouldn't have been willing to have me go, and I know he wanted me to. He said from the start that it would be a mighty good thing for me; and then, besides that, Hugh knows so much about Indians; they say that he's smarter even than an Indian about reading the signs of the prairie, and telling who is about, and what's likely to happen. Uncle Will said that he never would think of letting me go with any one except Hugh, for he thinks Hugh can carry a person through all right anywhere."

"I guess that's so; everybody that I ever heard talk about him in this country says that he's the smartest mountain man that there is. Why, last fall, after you went away, old Jim Baker and his brother John passed through here, and they asked especially after Hugh, and when they learned that he was working over at your uncle's, they turned off and went over there, two days' travel out of their road, to see him. Jim Baker didn't say anything, he never talks at all, but John said that Hugh was one of the old kind; that there were only a few of them left now in the mountains, and he wanted to see Hugh, and so did his brother."

"Well," said Jack, "we're going to make the trip, and I believe we're going to get through all right, and not have a bit of trouble, and I wish you were going with us."

"So do I wish it, but I know I ain't, so it's no use crying over it."

Lying about the Powell house Jack saw two of the wolf puppies that he had helped dig out the summer before. They seemed tame enough, a good deal like big dogs, but they did not make friends with strangers, as dogs would have done, but instead, moved off out of the way. With Charlie and Bess, however, they seemed on very good terms, and very grateful for any petting or attention. The sight of these great beasts made Jack think a little sadly of his own wolf, Swiftfoot, far away in New York.

Bess, too, talked with Jack about the trip that he was making, and seemed to feel a little uneasy about its possible dangers, while Mrs. Powell said she thought it a shame that Jack should be allowed to go away off among the Indians, where she was sure he was going to be killed.

Hugh laughed at her doleful prophecies, and said, "Why, Mrs. Powell, there ain't a mite o' danger. I wasn't much older than Jack when I first came out into this country, and I've been travelling about now for more than forty years, and nothing's ever happened to me. It seems strange that a sensible woman like you should have such queer ideas."

The journey formed the principal topic of conversation that evening, but Hugh and Jack remembered to tell Mr. Powell about the cow that had been killed as they were riding out two days before, and about the swift punishment that had fallen on the two wolves. When bedtime came, Hugh and Jack spread their blankets on the kitchen floor, and were soon sleeping soundly.

Next morning Hugh asked Mr. Powell if he could spare them a saddle horse, and