"How you talk, Josiah Socket!" burst out his spouse. "Turn him out to pasture indeed! As if the pasturing was a-layin' around loose in these mountains an' the boys didn't have nuthin' else to do but to watch him while he got well. Can't you do something, so as they can go ahead with the critter somehow?"
"Couldn't we bind it up in soft cloth?" suggested Mark.
"Might try it," said Josiah Socket, and in the end a soft shoe, made of an old sponge and a bit of blanket, was tied on the lame foot, which was first greased thoroughly. This did some good, and poor Darling hobbled along in fairly good shape but at a reduced rate of speed.
Two days later the boys reached the end of the wagon trail on that particular route. The remains of wagons lay on all sides, showing that it had been necessary to abandon them.
"You might get through with your wagon," said one gold hunter, who had been across the mountains twice. "But it is more trouble than it is worth. Better make packs of yer outfit and cross on foot."
"Well, we won't lose much by leaving the wagon," said Bob. "It's about used up anyway." What he said was true. The rough traveling had caused the turnout to break down more than once and they had spent many hours in making it fit to use. A few more heavy jolts would cause it to fall to pieces.
CHAPTER XVII
AMONG THE INDIANS
The day after they abandoned the wagon, and divided the outfit into packs, the young pioneers found themselves on something of a plateau among the Rockies. Each carried a stiff load on his shoulders, and what was left of the outfit was strapped to the back of the mule,—enough to make Darling move along slower than ever.