ood was
brought in. Fortunately the men had been provided with hatchets, in the
frontier style, which their rescuers had not neglected to bring away,
and they fixed wooden hooks in the walls for their extra arms and
clothing. A half dozen scraped away a large area of the thin snow and
enabled the horses to find grass. A fine spring two hundred yards away
furnished a supply of water.

After the horses had eaten Obed, the Panther and Ned rode away in search
of game, leaving Mr. Roylston in command at the cabin.

The snow was no longer falling, and that which lay on the ground was
melting rapidly.

"I know this country," said the Panther, "an' we've got four chances for
game. It may be buffalo, it may be deer, it may be antelope, and it may
be wild turkeys. I think it most likely that we'll find buffalo. We're
so fur west of the main settlements that they're apt to hang 'roun'
here in the winter in the creek bottoms, an' if it snows they'll take to
the timber fur shelter."

"And it has snowed," said Ned.

"Jest so, an' that bein' the case we'll search the timber. Of course big
herds couldn't crowd in thar, but in this part of the country we
gen'rally find the buffalo scattered in little bands."

They found patches of forest, generally dwarfed in character, and looked
diligently for the great game. Once a deer sprang out of a thicket, but
sped away so fast they did not get a chance for a shot. At length Obed
saw large footprints in the thinning snow, and called the Panther's
attention to them. The big man examined the traces critically.

"Not many hours old," he said. "I'm thinkin' that we'll have buffalo
steak fur supper. We'll scout all along this timber. What we want is a
young cow. Their meat is not tough."

They rode through the timber for about two hours, when Ned caught sight
of moving figures on the far side of a thicket. He could just see the
backs of large animals, and he knew that there were their buffalo. He
pointed them out to the Panther, who nodded.

"We'll ride 'roun' the thicket as gently as possible," he said, "an'
then open fire. Remember, we want a tender young cow, two of 'em if we
can get 'em, an' don't fool with the bulls."

Ned's heart throbbed as Old Jack bore him around the thicket. He had
fought with men, but he was not yet a buffalo hunter. Just as they
turned the flank of the bushes a huge buffalo bull, catching their odor,
raised his head and uttered a snort. The Panther promptly fi