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Updated: June 18, 2025
"Reckon you'd better stay over to-morrow," suggested Slingerland. His concern for the girl could not have been greater had she been his own daughter. "Allie thet was her name, you said. Wal, it's pretty an' easy to say." Next day Allie showed an almost imperceptible improvement. It might have been Neale's imagination leading him to believe that there were really grounds for hope.
"Wal, I'll set to work an' clean out a place fer her," said Slingerland. "We'll help," rejoined Neale. "Red, you have a look at the horses." "I'll slip the saddles an' bridles," replied King, "an' let 'em go. Hosses couldn't be chased out of heah." Slingerland's cabin consisted really of two adjoining cabins with a door between, one part being larger and of later construction.
"My job was hosses," drawled Larry. "An' besides, you've got to shoot straight, which Reddy hasn't hed experience of," went on Slingerland, with a broader smile. "I seen you was packin' a Winchester all shiny an' new," replied Larry. "Shore I'm in fer anythin' with ridin' an' shootin'." Neale and Larry accepted the proposition then and there.
He went outside and Slingerland followed. Snow was sweeping down-light, dry, powdery. The wind was piercingly cold. Slingerland yelled something, but Neale could not distinguish what. When they got back inside the trapper said: "Blizzard!" Neale grew distressed. "Wal, no use to worry about Service," argued the trapper. "If it is a blizzard we can't git up thar, thet's all.
Fresno swore and, picking himself up, tried again. This time the mustang behaved better, but it was plain he did not like the weight. Then Fresno started off, leading his own horse, and at a trot that showed he wanted to cover ground. Allie heard the others quarreling over something, probably the gold Slingerland had been so many years in accumulating.
"I saw dead an' scalped white men a few days back," replied Slingerland. Horn grew as black as a thundercloud, and he cursed the group of pale-faced men who had elected to journey eastward with him. "You'll hev to fight," he ended, brutally, "an' thet'll be some satisfaction to me." "Horn, there's soldiers over hyar in camp," went on Slingerland. "Do you want me to ride after them?"
For the rest the old trapper was glad to see the last of habitations, and of men, and of the railroad. Slingerland hated that great, shining steel band of progress connecting East and West. Every ringing sledge-hammer blow had sung out the death-knell of the trapper's calling. This railroad spelled the end of the wilderness.
On the fifth morning Slingerland was persuaded to attempt the trip to aid Service. Larry wanted to accompany them, but Slingerland said he had better stay with Allie. So, muffled up, the two men set out on snow-shoes, dragging a sled. A crust had frozen on the snow, otherwise traveling would have been impossible. Once up on the slope the north wind hit them square in the face.
It was late afternoon when he topped the last ridge between him and home. What Slingerland saw caused him to drop his traps and gaze aghast. A heavy column of smoke rose above the valley. His first thought was of Sioux. But he doubted if the Indians would betray his friendship. The cabin had caught on fire by accident or else a band of wandering desperadoes had happened along to ruin him.
Shane had done his best and his last for the U. P. R. Neale and Larry and Slingerland planned to go into the hills late in the fall, visit Slingerland's old camp, and then try to locate the gold buried by Horn. For the present Larry meant to return to Benton, and Neale, though vacillating as to his own movements, decided to keep an eye on the cowboy.
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