Boy Scouts in the Rockies; Or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine

by Herbert Carter

  CHAPTER VII.

  STEP HEN MAKES A CAPTURE.

  "Wow! it's a regular attack! Keep hold of your guns, boys, and makeevery bullet count!" whooped the excited Giraffe.

  "Don't anybody fire a single shot without orders!" roared Thad, whocould never tell what such a fly-up-the-creek as Giraffe was capableof doing, once he got started.

  The guide led the way toward the spot where Step Hen still continuedto shout and entreat. All of the boys had seen fit to arm themselves.Even Smithy, who had no gun, had seized upon the camp hatchet, andimagined himself looking exceedingly warlike as he trotted along inthe wake of his comrades, making violent passes in the air, as thoughcutting down imaginary enemies by the score.

  They thus came upon Step Hen; and sure enough he was clinging to theback of an Indian, both arms being twisted desperately around thelatter's dusky neck in a way that threatened to choke the other. StepHen may never have read about the way the Old Man of the Sea clung toSinbad the Sailor, using both arms and legs to maintain his hold; butThad thought, when he had his first glimpse of the picture, that atany rate the scout was a good sticker.

  But then the Indian did not seem to be doing anything on his part toward off the attack; indeed, he was standing there, bearing his burdenwith that stoical indifference peculiar to his race. There was nosmile on his sober face that Thad could see; but he imagined that theIndian must surely appreciate the ridiculous nature of the situation.

  "All right, Step Hen," Thad called out, when he could make himselfheard above the tremendous racket the other was putting up; "we'rehere to save you, guns and all. You can let go your grip, Step Hen!"

  "But you won't let him get away, will you, Thad?" pleaded the other,earnestly. "He's my Injun, don't you know; I captured him all bymyself. I just bet you now he was meanin' to hook my hat, that's whatbrought him to the creek; but I jumped on him, and took him bysurprise. Surround him, fellers, while I let him loose. My! but he's atricky one, I tell you; pretended never to fight back a bit; but hewas only watching for his chance. He didn't know who had hold of him,and that I was on to his game, all right."

  "Stop talking, and let him go; you're half choking him, Step Hen!"ordered the patrol leader.

  And knowing that Thad meant business when he used his official tones,Step Hen suddenly released his clutch, and jumped back, just as if hereally expected his late captive to whirl and attack him.

  But nothing of the kind occurred. In fact, the Indian continued toshow the utmost indifference to the fact that a ring of eager facessurrounded him; and that guns of various makes and kinds were thrustout at him, until the circle seemed to fairly bristle with a warlikeatmosphere.

  Thad saw the Indian raise his right hand, holding the palm towardthem, and keeping the thumb flat at the same time.

  "That's the peace sign!" muttered Toby Smathers; "he ain't lookin' fortrouble, I reckons, boys."

  "Huh! he better not," grunted Giraffe, who had been amusing himselfmeanwhile in raising and lowering the hammer of his heavy rifle, asthough he must have something going in order to work off hisnervousness. "Why, we could eat him alive, and then not half try. Tento one is mighty heavy odds, let me tell you. And no wonder he holdsout the white flag. It's easy to surrender when you ain't got a show.But I'd go slow about trusting him, Thad; these here Injuns, I'veheard, are a treacherous lot, take 'em as a whole."

  "Keep still, Giraffe!" said the scoutmaster, sternly; "let me do thetalking," and the tall scout became mute, for the time being at least;though it was hard to keep him any length of time in that condition.

  Thad had already made a discovery. The moonlight fell upon the Indian,who now stood there with his arms folded, his whole attitude one ofstudied indifference; and it struck the patrol leader that there wassomething very familiar about him.

  "Allan, isn't he the young brave we saw hovering around our campbefore, and who wouldn't stop to be questioned?" he asked, turning tothe Maine boy.

  "I was just thinking of that myself when you spoke, Thad," came theready answer.

  "I wonder, now, why he keeps on hanging after us," the scoutmasterremarked. "And I'm going to ask him first of all."

  With that he turned to the prisoner, and went on to say:

  "Can you understand; do you know what I am saying?"

  "Yes, can speak same, all right," came the answer, in pretty fairEnglish.

  "Well, we want to know why you are hanging about our camp so much.Once before we saw you, and tried to talk with you, but you moved off.Now, away up here in the mountains you come again, sneaking around,and taking chances of being shot for a prowling wolf. Tell us why youdo this? I don't believe you meant to steal anything because you'vemade no attempt to creep into the camp; but we want to know just whyyou hang around this way."

  "Make come back more two, three times, look at teepee, see finepicture there. Never see like before. Much good! Ugh! P'raps sellsame, bimeby, when go back!"

  "What under the sun does he mean by that talk, Thad? Sure we ain't inthe picture selling business, even if I am taking some dandysnapshots. I wonder, now, has he seen me at work; does he think I'm atraveling photograph man, and wants me to strike him off, in hiswarpaint and feathers?"

  Davy Jones managed to say all of this, but no one was paying muchattention to his remarks.

  "Tell you what, fellers," broke in the irrepressible Giraffe, justthen; "he's taken a shine to our tents, and wants to buy one whenwe're done with 'em. Knows a good thing when he sees it, he does.Just as if we'd let 'em go for a song, when they're cram full ofassociations for us."

  "You're not on to it yet, boys;" remarked Thad, quietly; "it's thehead of the fox which we had painted so cleverly on each tent that'scaught his eye; and he just can't help hanging around, to keep ongazing at it, for some reason or other."

  For the first time they saw a sign of emotion flit across the face ofthe young Indian brave. He struck himself violently on the chest.

  "Me Fox!" he exclaimed, proudly. "Soon me must have teepee for self.See picture fox on same, think can buy. Give much pelt for same. Ugh!what white boy say?"

  "Well, just to think of it, here's another Fox, all right?" called outGiraffe. "We're treading on his heels, so to speak, boys, when we takethat name for our patrol. Glad to meet up with you; and by the way areyou Silver Fox, Red Fox, or Black Fox; though to be sure they allbelong to one family?"

  "I thought I ought to know him," burst out Aleck Rawson, pushingforward, "and now I'm dead sure of it. Hello! Fox, you sure mustremember me, Aleck; and the good times we used to have, when I livedclose to the Reservation?"

  The young Indian extended his hand without hesitation.

  "No forget Aleck, not much. But him not with other white boys down inbig timber. Where come by? How do? Much glad see again. My coyotepony, Flicker, yet in the run. Ugh! Shake!"

  "He means a pony I gave him when we came away from that place,"explained Aleck, turning to Thad after gravely shaking hands with theIndian. "The Fox is a Crow, and one of the smartest boys you ever saw.He can do everything that a grown warrior could; and some day they sayhe will be a chief in his tribe. We used to have great times racingour ponies, and chasing coyotes over the prairie. And I'm right gladto see him once more; though it puzzles me to know why he is up here,so far away from the homes of his people; and armed, too."

  "Well, if he's an old friend of yours, Aleck, and you can vouch for him,why, of course he's going to be welcome at our fire. And it tickles meto think that the bright painting of the fox head on each of our tentswas what attracted his eye, so that he just _couldn't_ keep from hangingaround at that other time. But surely that didn't draw him away up here;he's got some other business in his head; for he only discovered ourcamp just now, and was coming in to see us, I reckon, when Step Henmounted his back, and then called to us to help him."

  "Anyway, I had him gripped good and tight, you all saw," grumbledStep Hen. "When these good husky arms of mine get locked aroundanything, it takes a heap to break me away. If he
had been a hostileInjun I'd a hung on like grim death, believe me."

  No one ventured to try and take away any of his laurels. He hadcertainly yelled for help in a way that could not easily be excelled,they all thought.

  Thad led the way to the fire, after inviting the Indian to join them.He confessed to having just a little curiosity himself as to what hadcaused the Fox to desert the teepees of his tribe, and wander so faraway from the reservation; but of course Thad knew better than to askabout the personal affairs of the other. If the Fox chose, later on,to take them into his confidence, well and good. He might only staywith them for a night, and then slip away; but since he was Aleck'sfriend, and seemed to be connected with the great family of Foxes, ofwhich they were a Boy Scout branch, why, he would be welcome.

  As the Indian confessed that he had not broken his fast since noon,when he had munched a handful of dried deer meat, known as pemmican,some of the boys took it upon themselves to cook something for him. Heappeared to be very grateful, and could be seen to sniff the aireagerly while the coffee was boiling; showing that he appreciated thewhite man's drink at its true value; for his people on thereservation enjoyed many of the comforts of civilization, and some ofthe luxuries, too, even to pianos that played themselves, and boxesthat sang songs, and played the violin, and gave all sorts oforchestral music, so Aleck observed.

  And while the boys talked on various subjects, as they sat around,Thad happened to be watching the face of the Fox when one of thescouts casually mentioned the name of Colonel Kracker. He actually sawthe dark face grow stern, and that the Indian ground his teethtogether, as if in anger.

  Seeing which Thad put things together, and came to a conclusion,whether right or wrong, of course he could not yet say.

  "He knows Kracker, for he started when Davy mentioned the name," Thadwas saying to himself. "And the chances are that the prospector hasdone something to injure the Fox, or some member of his family. TheseIndians hate savagely; and perhaps this young fellow, hardly more thana boy, has taken to the warpath, bent on having a settlement with thebig bully. Well, it isn't any of our business; but I know I'd hate tohave the Fox camping on _my_ trail, with hatred burning in his heart."