And now a new source of trouble had come upon them. Old Peter, the packhorse, had a habit of wandering off; and on several other occasions Roger had been compelled to hunt for him in the morning; but this time he seemed to have disappeared for good. Of course both lads took their rifles with them when leaving camp. In those early days, when one's life often depended on prompt action, and also on having the means of defence handy, men and boys never neglected to keep their firearms where they could lay a hand on them at a second's warning. Even when they slept, Dick and his cousin kept their guns close by, with a protecting arm generally thrown over them, for they looked upon these weapons as their best, indeed only, friends in this wild country. It took Dick but a minute or two to circle around just outside the camp, and find the track of the broken hoof. Just as he expected, it soon began to edge away from camp. Old Peter was evidently up to his tricks again, and the grass must have seemed sweeter to him the further he could roam away from the spot where the tent had been pitched. They followed the trail for a few minutes. Then Dick came to a pause, and, screening his eyes with his hand, looked keenly around. "See any sign of the old rascal?" asked Roger. "I must say I don't," came the answer; "and, to tell the truth, I hardly like the idea of wandering so far away from camp. While we are gone some one might come along and steal everything we own--horses, outfit and all." "That would be a tough deal for us, Dick," remarked the other; "and for one I don't think it would pay us to take the chance for the sake of such an old horse as Peter. But what shall we do?" "Go back and get our breakfast," answered Dick, promptly, as though he had been making up his mind while they hunted for the tracks; "then, if he doesn't show up, we can load the stuff on both our horses, and start out." "But that would be a pretty uncomfortable way of doing, I'd say," objected Roger, who did not like the thought of riding perched on top of the folded tent, and with all manner of other things around him. "Oh! I don't mean to try it long," the other hastened to reply. "You see, it happens that the trail leads up-river, so we could keep on following it, and not leave our stuff unprotected. Then, if we found Peter, it would be all right; and, on the other hand, if we didn't, and had to give him up, I've a notion we'd better get rid of a few things like the tent, and go on our journey lighter." "It is pretty old, for a fact, and clumsy, too. When that Indian brave sold the tent to us, he played a smart trick, for the skins had been exposed so long to sun and rain and wind that they were getting weak. I won't be sorry to see the old affair kicked out. We're used to sleeping on the ground, and if it rains we can make a shelter out of branches, or find a hole in the rocks." "Perhaps a hollow tree," added Dick, laughingly, as they turned back toward camp.