The Wolf Hunters: A Story of the Buffalo PlainsPeck, Robert Morris
General
The Wolf Hunters: A Story of the Buffalo Plains
Peck, Robert Morris
Frontier and pioneer life -- Kansas; Hunting -- Kansas
"He's been right-handed, too," continued the old man, "for the ball
went in on the right side an' come out on the left. You see, the little
hole is clean-cut on the right side but bigger an' ragged on the left
where it come out. That tells where it went in an' where it come out.
When he wrote that note on the old shoulder-blade he's been getting
nervous, or maybe weak from loss of blood. It's a pity, though, that
he didn't set down his name an' the town where he come from a little
plainer so's we could write to his folks an' let 'em know what become
of him. But, like many another poor devil that's been wiped out by
Injuns, his people'll never know where, when, or how he died.
"Well," continued the old man after a pause, "I b'lieve I'll ride over
to the fort to-morrow; an' get our mail an' come back next day, an' I
guess I'll just take them things along," pointing to the bones, "an'
maybe some o' the folks over there can tell me somethin' more about
this affair. If anybody knows anything about it French Dave'll know,
for he's been among the Injuns a good deal an' would be likely to have
heard something about it."
CHAPTER XIV
SATANTA'S STORY
Next day, mounted on Black Prince, Tom started for Fort Larned. He had
stowed the skull of the supposed deceased wolf hunter in a gunny sack
tied to his saddle, but the buffalo shoulder-blade he wrapped carefully
in the fur of a fox skin, to make sure that no chafing should further
obliterate the already obscure record.
These relics he intended to submit to the best sign readers to be
found about the fort, to ascertain if any light could be thrown on the
supposed tragedy.
As I was writing a letter to send in by Tom, Jack remarked: "We ought
to have a name for our camp, a place to date letters from, something
more than just 'Camp on Walnut Creek.'"
"That wouldn't be a bad idea," I replied, "but what shall we call it?
The only things we see here are buffaloes, coyotes, and antelopes, with
a few prairie-dogs and rattlesnakes. How would it do to call our place
'Camp Antelope'?"
"I think it would be more to the point," said Jack, "to call it 'Camp
Coyote.'"
"Well," said Tom, "why not compromise and call it 'Camp Coyotelope'?"
"Let it be so," said I, and I so dated my letter, and from that time on
we spoke of our winter home as Camp Coyotelope.
Nothing unusual happened while Tom was gone. Jack tended his traps,
while I did the wolf baiting and skinning.
On the second evening, just in time for supper, Tom returned from Fort
Larned, bringing our mail, and as we gathered around the table we asked
him anxiously what he had learned about the dead man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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