the Thundering Herd (1984) (20 page)

Tom could tell that Dave had something on his mind, and awaited results with interest. Hudnall greeted Dave in the same cordial way as he had Tom, asked the same questions, made the same statements about the hide-hunting and news of camp. And he also took charge of Dave's team.

"Get any line on Milly?" asked Dave, as he peeled off his shirt.

"By gum! you shore rustled across the prairie to-day."

Tom was glad to acquaint his comrade with the trace he had obtained of Jett's outfit. Dave vented his satisfaction in forceful, though profane, speech.

While he was performing his ablutions Dunn and Ory Tacks drove in with the day's total of hides, eighty-six, not a good showing.

Dunn threw the folded hides out on the open ground some rods from camp, while Tacks unhitched the team.

Hudnall, swift and capable round the camp fire as elsewhere, had a steaming supper soon ready, to which the six men sat down hungry as wolves and as talkative as full mouths would permit.

Ory Tacks had now been some weeks in the buffalo fields. Not in the least had it changed him, except that he did not appear to be quite so fat. Toil and danger had no power to transform his expression of infantile glee with life and himself. He wore the old slouch hat jauntily and, as always, a tuft of tow-colored hair stuck out through a hole in its crown.

Ory plied Tom with queries about Sprague, obviously leading up to something, but Tom, being both hungry and thoughtful, did not give him much satisfaction.

Forthwith Ory, between bites, turned his interest to Stronghurl, with the difference that now he was more than eager.

"Mr. Strongthrow," he began, as usual getting Dave's name wrong, "did you see my--our--the young lady at Sprague?"

"No, she was gone with Jett, I'm shore sorry to say," replied Dave.

"Miss Sally gone!" ejaculated Ory.

"Naw, I meant Tom's girl, Milly Fayre," replied Dave, rather shortly.

"But you saw Miss Sally?"

"Shore did."

"Haven't you a letter for me from her?" inquired Ory, with astonishing nanvetT.

"What?" gaped Dave, almost dropping a large bite of biscuit from his mouth.

"You have a letter for me from Sally," said Ory, now affirmatively.

"Boy, do you reckon me a pony-express rider, carryin' the mail?"

"Did you see much of her?" inquired Ory, with scrupulous politeness.

"Nope. Not a great deal."

"How long were you with her? I'm asking, because if you saw her for even a little she'd have given you a message for me."

"Only saw her about thirty minutes, an' then, 'cause Tom was shore rarin' to leave, Sally an' me was busy gettin' married," replied Dave, with vast assumed imperturbability.

It had the effect to crush poor Ory into bewildered silence; he sank down quite staggered. Tom wanted to laugh, yet had not quite the meanness to let it out. Hudnall looked up, frowning.

"Dave, that's no way to tease Ory," he reproved, severely. "Ory's got as much right to shine up to Sally as you. Now if she sent him a letter you fork it over."

Dave got red in the face.

"She didn't send none," he declared.

"Are you sure?" added Hudnall, suspiciously. "I ain't placin' too much confidence in you, Dave."

"So it 'pears. But I'm not lyin'."

"All right. An' after this don't make any fool remarks about marryin' Sally, just to tease Ory. It ain't good taste."

"Boss, I wasn't teasin' him or talkin' like Ory's hair sticks through his hat," returned Dave, deliberately.

"What?" shouted Hudnall.

"Me an' Sally was married."

"You was married!" roared Hudnall, in amaze and rage.

"Yes, sir. There was a travelin' parson at Sprague, an' Sally an' me thought it a good chance to marry. So we did."

"Without askin' leave of me--of her dad?"

"You wasn't around. Sally was willin'--an' we thought we could tell you afterward."

"Did you ask her mother? She was around."

"Nope. I wanted to, but Sally said her mother didn't think I was much of a match."

"So you just run off with my kid an' married her?" roared Hudnall, beside himself with rage.

"Kid! Sally's a grown woman. See here, Hudnall, I didn't reckon you'd be tickled, but I shore thought you'd have some sense. Sally an' me would have married, when this huntin's over. I wanted some one to take care of my money, an' keep it, case I get killed out here. So what's wrong about it?"

"You big Swede!" thundered Hudnall. "You didn't ask ME. That's what. An' I'm a mind to pound the stuffin's out of you."

Stronghurl was not profoundly moved by this threat.

"If you feel that way, come on," he replied, coolly. He was a thick, imperturbable sort of fellow, and possibly, Tom thought, he might be a Swede.

Pilchuck was shaking with silent mirth; Ory Tacks was reveling in revenge; Burn Hudnall sat divided between consternation and glee; old man Dunn looked on, very much amazed; and as for Tom, he felt that it looked mightily like a fight, yet he could not convince himself it would go that far.

"Come on, huh?" echoed Hudnall, boomingly, as he rose to his lofty height. He was twice the size of Stronghurl. He could have broken the smaller, though sturdy, bridegroom in short order. Slowly Stronghurl rose, at last seriously concerned, but resigned and forceful.

"Reckon you can lick me, Hudnall," he said, "an' if it's goin' to make you feel better let's get it over."

For answer Hudnall seemed to change, to expand, and throwing back his shaggy head he let out a stentorian roar of laughter. That eased the situation. Pilchuck also broke out, and the others, except Dave, joined him to the extent of their mirth. Hudnall was the last to recover, following which he shoved a brawny hand at Stronghurl.

"Dave, I was mad, natural-like, but you takin' me serious about fightin' over Sally was funny. Why, bless your heart, I'm glad for Sally an' you, even if you didn't ask me, an' I wish you prosperity an' long life!"

Stronghurl's armor of density was not proof against this big- hearted and totally unexpected acceptance and approval, and he showed in his sudden embarrassment and halting response that he was deeply moved. Nor did he take the congratulations of the rest of the outfit as calmly as might have been supposed he would, from his announcement of the marriage. Ory Tacks showed to advantage in his sincere and manly overture of friendliness.

What with this incident, and the news of Sprague to be told to Hudnall and Pilchuck, and their recital of the hunting conditions to Tom and Dave, the outfit did not soon get the day's hides pegged down, or to their much-needed beds.

Next morning Hudnall made the suggestion that each and all of the outfit would ride out of their way to look over new camps and to inquire of hunters as to the whereabouts of Randall Jett.

"Tom, we can't stop work altogether, but we can all spare some time," he said. "An' I'll drive the wagon out an' back, so you'll have time to ride along the river. It's my idea we'll find Milly pronto."

"Then what?" queried Tom, thrilling deeply with this good man's assurance.

"Wal, you can leave that to me," interposed Pilchuck, dryly. Tom was quick to sense something in the scout's mind which had not been spoken.

But that day and the next and the following passed fleetly by without any trace of Jett's outfit. Ten miles up and down the river, on the west bank, had been covered by some one of Hudnall's outfit. No three-wagon camp had been located.

"Shore Jett must be across the river," averred Pilchuck. "There's outfits strung along, an' enough buffalo for HIM."

"What'll I do?" queried Tom, appealingly.

"Wal, son, you can't work an' do the job right," replied the scout.

"I'd take a couple of days off. Ride down the river twenty miles or so, then cross an' come back on the other side. If that don't fetch results ride up the river, cross an' come back. Ask about Indians, too, an' keep your eyes peeled."

Tom's saddle horse, Dusty, had been ridden by Burn Hudnall and Pilchuck also during Tom's absence, and had developed into a fleet, tireless steed only second to Pilchuck's best buffalo chaser. Next morning Tom set off, mounted on Dusty. Well armed, with a small store of food, a canteen of water, and a field-glass, he turned resolute face to the task before him.

In less than two hours he had passed the ten-mile limit of his search so far, and had entered unfamiliar country where camps were many, and buffalo apparently as thick as bees round a hive. But very few of the camps had an occupant; at that hour all the men of each outfit were engaged up on the prairie, as the incessant boom of guns proved. How Tom's eyes strained and ached to catch a glimpse of the red scarf Milly said she would put up wherever she was! What bitter disappointment when he espied a blanket or anything holding a touch of red!

From each camp Tom would ride up the prairie slope to a level and out toward the black-fringed, dust-mantled moving medium that was buffalo. Thus he came upon hunters, skinners, teamsters, all of whom gave him less cordial greeting than he had received from hide- hunters before he went north. It took some moments for Tom to make his sincerity felt. These men were rushed for time, and a feeling of aloofness from strangers had manifestly passed south from camp to camp. Not one of them could or would give him any clue to Jett's outfit.

"Air you lookin' fer hide thieves?" queried one old grizzled hunter.

"No. I'm looking for a girl who has been brought down here by a man named Jett."

"Sorry. Never heard of him. But if you was lookin' fer hide thieves I'd be damn interested," replied the hunter.

"Why?" asked Tom, curiously.

"Because I had eleven hundred hides stole from my camp," he replied, "an' ain't never heerd of them since, let alone seein' hide or hair."

"Too bad. Is there much of this dirty work going on?"

"How 'n 'll can we tell thet?" retorted the man. "Thar's forty square miles of buffler, millin' an' movin', too. Nobody can keep track of any one. It's all mad rush. But some dirty sneaks air gittin' rich on other men's work."

Very few men Tom encountered, however, had any words to spare; and before that day was over he decided not to interrogate any more.

It went against his grain to be regarded with hard, cold, suspicious eyes. There was no recourse for him but to search till he met Jett or found his camp. That struck him as far from a hopeless task, yet his longing and dread were poignant. He went on until he had passed the zone of camps and had drawn out of hearing of the boom-boom-boom of the big fifties. Not by many miles, though, had he come to the end of the buffalo herd.

It was the middle of the afternoon, too late for Tom to reach camp that day. He crossed the stream, now a clear shallow sandy- bottomed little watercourse, running swiftly. He was probably not many leagues from its source up in the bluffs of the Staked Plain, stark bald-faced heave of country, frowning down on the prairie.

Tom took the precaution to sweep the open stretches in front with his field-glass. All that he saw there were buffalo, near and far, everywhere, dots and strings and bands, just straggling remnants of the immense herd back over the stream.

A good trail, with horse tracks in it, followed the course of the water east, and led along the edge of the timber and sometimes through open groves. But Tom did not come to a road or see a camp or man or horse. The prairie was a beautiful grassy level, growing brown from the hot sun. Bands of antelope grazed within range of his gun, as tame as cattle; deer trotted ahead of him through the timber; wild turkeys by the hundreds looked up at his approach and made no effort to run. He saw bear and panther tracks in the dust of the trail.

Sunset overtook Tom and still he rode on. Before dark, however, he espied a thick clump of timber in which he decided to spend the night. Finding a suitable place well down from the trail, he unsaddled Dusty and led him to the stream to drink, then picketed him with a long lasso on a grass plot.

Twilight stole down into the grove while Tom ate some of the meat and bread he had taken the precaution to bring. No fire was necessary, as the air was close and sultry; besides, it might have attracted attention. He spread his saddle blankets for a bed, placed his saddle for a pillow, and with weapons at his side he lay down to sleep.

This was the first night he had been alone on the Texas prairies.

It was novel, strange, somehow exhilarating, and yet disturbing.

His anxiety to find Milly had led him far from the hunters' camps, into wild country, where he must run considerable risk. His state of mind, therefore, rendered him doubly susceptible to all around him.

Dusk mantled the river brakes. The night insects had begun their incessant song, low, monotonous, plaintive. And frogs joined in with their sweet, mellow, melodious trill. In spite of these sounds silence seemed to reign. Solitude was omnipresent there.

Tom found it hard to realize that the extermination of America's most numerous and magnificent game beast was in frenzied operation along this river; that bands of Indians were on the warpath, and hide-robbers foraging secretly. Here the night and place were lonely, sad, provocative of such thoughts as had never before disturbed Tom.