Read Novel 1968 - Down The Long Hills (v5.0) for Free Online Page B

trailing them—or who he thought was trailing them. But maybe the Indian was coming on, wanting their scalps, and wanting Big Red. Hardy wanted to believe they would see no more of him, but pa had always taught him to be foresighted.
    “Try to foresee the worst things that could happen,” pa said, “and plan for them. Figure out what you would do beforehand. Chances are, they’ll never happen; but if you plan ahead, you’re ready.”
    Well, all right, he would think of those things later. Now he had two things he had to be thinking of right off. They were going to need more food, and some way to fix something warm to eat or drink. Somehow he had to get some meat. And he had to figure out some way of cooking something if he caught it.
    Also, they were going to need something warm to wear. He was cold all the time, except when right in the sun, and Betty Sue shivered, even under his coat. He tried not to think of how far they had to go, or how short a distance they had come so far.
    Meanwhile, he had to look for a camp, a hidden place where he could see around without being seen, and a place where he could get back on the horse.

    A SHAWAKIE WAS EAGER to find that big horse. He had lost the trail because of the rain, but he rode on. Shrewdly, he was paying little attention to trail sign…instead, he was trying to foresee what the Little Warrior would do.
    That was how he found the crudely made shelter under the dead cottonwood.

Chapter 4
    F RANK DARROW SWUNG his horse around and studied the tracks. “Injun pony,” he said. “Scott, you’ve got to face it. Any chance we had to find those youngsters was washed away by that rain. Look for yourself…there ain’t any tracks to be seen. Not even antelope tracks.”
    Collins indicated the pony tracks. “That Indian was going somewhere. If he left tracks, we can find Hardy’s tracks.”
    “If he’s alive to make any.” Darrow rested his hands on the pommel. “Scott, I ain’t sayin’ I wouldn’t feel the same, was I in your boots, but you’ve got to see reason.
    ‘That youngster is only seven years old, and he’s up against a fix no grown man would like to face. He’s out in the wilderness with no grub, no weapon that we know of, an’ he’s got him a girl kid to care for. You say he knows how to get along, but this here is Injun country an’ he’s got him a horse any Injun would give his eyeteeth for.
    “You talk about gettin’ along. This here country this time of year has mighty little game. There’ll be cold winds blowin’ down across this flat like the mill-tails of hell in no time at all. The Injuns an’ the game know that, so they head for sheltered places in the hills. Your kid ain’t got a chance.”
    Scott Collins nodded his head. “Frank, you go along back and I’ll not hold it against you. I know winter is coming on and you’ve got stock to feed and work to do. You’ve got wood to cut and lay by before cold weather sets in. I’ve got to keep looking, and you know why? Because I know that boy.
    “He’s followed me to the field and the woods ever since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, and he’s questioned me up one side and down the other. We’ve hunted plants in the woods and fields, and sold them to folks for medicine. We’ve hunted them for grub. He’s helped me with the planting, and he’s got a mighty keen sense of responsibility.
    “He’s known some Indians. He’s played with their youngsters, and he’s hunted with them. I know my boy; and young as he is, he’d take a lot of killing, believe me.
    “And that isn’t all. There’s just the two of us now, him and me. And he knows that I’ll be hunting him. I’ll be along the trail somewhere, and he’ll trust me to look, because he knows that’s the way I’m geared. Frank, it may take me a long time, but I’ll not stop hunting until I find that boy, or find his body. You go along if you’re of a mind to.”
    Darrow stared at him. “I never knew such a