on account of wild animals, or possible horse thieves, it was thought best to have them within reach, and so fastened that they could not be stampeded in any way.
Then came the duty of starting the cooking fire. This was usually Billie’s job, for he had shown considerable ability along the cooking line, and moreover relished being placed in a position where his allowance of “grub” could not be cut down by ruthless hands.
On this particular occasion Billie was so much taken up with doctoring the sore back of his pony that Adrian took the duty of making the fire on his shoulders.
In lieu of stones with which to build a fireplace where coffee-pot and frying-pan could rest, he simply dug out a hole in the ground, and started his blaze there. Later on, when this became half-filled with glowing embers, it would be time to commence the business of getting their camp supper.
No matter where they might happen to partake of a meal, or how good the fare at some of the taverns they had struck in towns along the way, Billie loved the genuine camp meal best of all. They had found chances to do some shooting when on the trail, so that it was seldom they were without fresh meat for supper. On several occasions Billie had even insisted on purchasing a big generous beefsteak in some town through which they happened
to pass along about the middle of the afternoon, when it was decided that they would keep on and camp out, the weather conditions seeming favorable.
There was some venison still in the larder, for on the previous day Adrian had managed to creep up close enough to several feeding antelope to attract their attention by waving his red bandanna, while he lay sheltered from their view among a patch of rattle-snake weeds; the timid animals had started to run away at first, and then that fatal gift of curiosity began to get in its work, so that they had stopped, come back a little, run off again, and repeated these hesitating tactics until the sportsman, believing they were within easy rifleshot, had taken aim and knocked over a youngster.
And there was plenty left for a full meal all around, even counting on Billie as two persons, which the others generally did.
“We’re going to have a decent night of it, I reckon,” observed Donald, as the three of them sat around, just before sunset, and discussed the tender venison that had been cooked, and which along with coffee, and plenty of crackers, made up their supper.
“Yes,” added Adrian, with a glance aloft as he spoke, “some clouds floating over, perhaps, but not enough to mean rain. And the moon ought to come up in less’n two hours from now.”