ks, and built a little
fire of dry sage, and made tea, while Sally and Apache took a good roll
and then grazed on weeds and flowers and everything. This was fine,
here in the sunshine, with the blue sky over and the timber sloping up
on all sides, and the stream singing.

After we had eaten some bread and drunk some tea we Scouts rested, to
digest; but Bat and Walt the two recruits loafed off, down the creek,
and when they got away a little we could see them smoking. On top of
that, they hadn't washed the dishes. So I washed them.

After a while they came back on the run, but they weren't smoking now.
"Say!" they cried, excited. "We found some deer-tracks. Let's camp back
on the edge of the timber, and to-night when the deer come down to drink
we'll get one!"

That was as bad as shooting grouse. It wasn't deer season. They didn't
seem to understand.

"Against the law," said General Ashley. "And we're on the march, to go
through as quick as we can. It's time to pack."

"I'll pack one of those burros. I'll show you how," offered Bat. So we
let them go ahead, because they might know more than we. They led up
Sally, while Major Henry and Jed Smith and Kit Carson began to pack
Apache. The recruits threw on the pack, all right, and passed the rope;
but Sally moved because they were so rough, and Bat swore and kicked her
in the stomach.

"Get around there!" he said.

"Here! You quit that," scolded Fitzpatrick, first. "That's no way to
treat an animal." He was angry; we all were angry. (Note 29.)

"It's the way to treat this animal," retorted Bat. "I'll kick her head
off if she doesn't stand still. See?"

"No, you won't," warned General Ashley.

"If you can pack a burro so well, pack her yourself, then," answered
Walt.

"Fitzpatrick, you and Jim Bridger help me with Sally," ordered the
general; and we did. We threw the diamond hitch in a jiffy and the pack
stuck on as if it were glued fast.

The two recruits didn't have much more to say; but when we took up the
march again they sort of sulked along, behind. We thought best to follow
up the creek, through the flat, instead of making a straight climb of
the timber beyond. That would have been hard work, and slow work, and
you can travel a mile in the open in less time than you can travel half
a mile through brush.

A cattle trail led up through the flat. This flat closed, and then
opened by a little pass into another flat. We saw plenty of tracks where
deer had