aldy, and after they had
ridden behind the steam man to their heart's content, they decided
upon their future course. As the boy, Johnny, had no intention of
devoting himself to manual labor, even had he been able, it was agreed
that he should take upon himself the part of sentinel, while the
others were at work.

In this way it was believed that they could finish within a couple of
weeks, bidding good-by to the Indians, and quickly reach the States
and give up their dangerous pursuits altogether, whereas, if compelled
to do duty themselves as sentinels, their stay would be doubly
prolonged.

This arrangement suited the boy very well, who was thereby given
opportunity to exercise his steam man by occasional airings over the
prairies. To the east and south the plains stretched away till the
horizon shut down upon them, as the sky does on the sea. To the west,
some twenty odd miles distant, a range of mountains was visible, the
peaks being tinged with a faint blue in the distance, while some of
the more elevated looked like white conical clouds resting against the
clear sky beyond.

From the first, young Brainerd expressed a desire to visit these
mountains. There was something in their rugged grandeur which invited
a close inspection, and he proposed to the trapper that they should
make a hunting excursion in that direction.

'No need of goin' so fur for game,' he replied, 'takes too much time,
and thar's sure to be red-skins.'

'But if we go with the steam man we shall frighten them all away,' was
the reply.

'Yas,' laughed Baldy, 'and we'll skear the game away too.'

'But we can overtake that as we did the poor Indian the other day.'

'Not if he takes to the mountains. Leastways yer isn't him that would
like to undertake to ride up the mountain behind that old gintle-man.'

'Nor I either, but we can leave the wagon when we get to the base of
the mountain.'

'And give the reds time to come down and run off with yer whole team.'

'Do you think there is danger of that?'

'Dunno as thar be, but ef they catched sight of yourself, they'd raise
yer ha'r quicker'n lightning.'

Seeing that the little fellow was considerably discouraged, Baldy
hastened to add:

'Ef you're keerful, younker, and I b'lieve yer generally be, take a
ride thar yerself, behind yer jumping-jack, but remember my advice and
stick to yer wagon.'

Having thus obtained permission of the hunter, Johnny Brainerd, as may
well be supposed, di