The sides of the foothills were clothed in small tracts of scrubby pine
timber, and altogether it was not a pleasant country to travel over in
winter.
* * * * *
When Bud and Stella left the ranch house, Stella was bubbling over with
joy at the prospect of being in the hunt for the Indians, and the
prospect of Bud teaching her the mysteries of the trail, particularly
the war trail.
"Don't say a word," said Bud, with a wink, "an' we'll fool 'em all. Them
Injuns never went nowhere except inter ther east. I throwed out a blast
o' hot atmosphere erbout them goin' west. That wuz ter fool ole nosey
Ben, who had his neck stretched out like a spring chicken's ter hear
what was bein' said, an' git ther advantage o' my sooperior knowledge.
"Well, when I see that I thort I'd give him somethin' ter chase, so I
hands out the west p'int, when I mean ter go ter ther east. When we
start out we'll ride ter ther west until we come ter ther first draw,
then foller it ter ther south until we come ter a break leadin' east,
then foller that, an' we'll be fust onter ther red man's tracks."
"All right," laughed Stella. "That will be a good joke on Ben. He didn't
like it because he couldn't go with us."
Now it will be seen that Bud's little fiction in the hearing of Ben was
not the proper thing, and, as it turned out, Bud was mighty sorry for
his apparently innocent fib before the end of the day, or the dawning of
the next.
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