Three days more of searching the fastnesses within
riding distanceof this camp availed nothing. What an endless period it seemed to Tom
before Harkaway andStarwell got into their positions! They had to crawl and drag the
wounded Ory up hill. Thus it was that he did not look up untilPilchucks low Hist!
All save Pilchuck, who knocked the half-leveled gunout of Cosgroves hand and kicked
it far aside.
Thereupon the hunters retraced their steps from
that high point andreturned to camp. Bullets whistled over Toms head and spanged
from the rockson each side of him.
There was a bursting riot within his breast, an
overtaxed heartfluttering to recover. Roberts, come help me, called Tom, and began
to back down towardOry.
Roberts whistledthrough his nose; his lean face was
bathed with sweat. Then began what Tom felt to be the most heart-breaking
laborimaginable. Tom Doan had never experienced such suspense. The Indians left
there trailin the wagon tracks. Outfits ought to take care of theBrazos River
district an also the Red River.
Some one was close behind Tom, crawling
laboriously, pantingheavily.
Take it easy an slow, he advised Tom, complacently.
Another wounded manjoined Roberts and Ory Tacks, and the ordeal must have
beenfrightful for them.
Reckon weve got to rely on our field-glasses to see
them beforethey see us, said Pilchuck.
He was endeavoring to keep the glass leveledat the
exact spot that had held him. Outfits ought to take care of theBrazos River district
an also the Red River.
But as the light was still gray and dimthere could
not be any certainty as to that.
The route lay straight for theStaked Plain and was
covered at the rate of fifteen miles a day.
Tom essayed to keep up with Bear Claws, but this
was impossible bycrawling. Pilchuck, too, coveredground remarkably for a large man.
Men, reckon it aint time yet to say every one for himself,declared Pilchuck. Men,
reckon it aint time yet to say every one for himself,declared Pilchuck.
The Comanches were not yet abovethe hunters. Rumor
of a fight reached Hudnalls camp that night, but not untilnext day were the facts
known. Weve got to KILL the Comanches, anlick the Kiowas, Cheyennes, an
Arapahoes.
Roberts did likewise, and they both reached the
young manabout the same time. Pilchuck and his followers,two and three abreast, kept
close to his heels. Scarcely had the scout ceased his rapid whisper when a Sharps
rifleawoke the sleeping echoes. Pilchuck observed this, also, for as he stoodbehind
the Indian he watched him steadily. When Pilchuck made this decision he did not yet
know that theMexican had located the Comanches.