Jack Among the Indians; Or, A Boy's Summer on the Buffalo Plains

by George Bird Grinnell

Sure enough; a moment afterward an elk stepped out of the brush above them on the hillside, and came toward the house; it wore a bell, and besides this, a great strip of red cloth was tied around its neck.

"What in the world is that he's got around his neck, Hugh?" said Jack; "it looks as if he had a sore throat and had a strip of red flannel tied around it."

"Well," said Hugh, "he's got the red flannel all right. This spring when we turned him out Jo was afraid that somebody would shoot him for a wild elk, so he put the bell on, and that red cloth, and then he told everybody he met, when he was riding, about it, and I expect there ain't no one in quite a scope of country but knows about that elk, and just how he sounds and looks."

Meantime the elk had been slowly approaching, and Jack got up and walked over toward it. It was just shedding out, and great patches of its body were smooth and yellow, while other patches were still covered with long, brownish hair, at the base of which a thick fur or wool could be seen. Hugh called out to Jack, "You want to look out for him, son; he's pretty handy sometimes with them fore feet of his, when he ain't in a good temper; he may strike at you." When Jack heard this he did not go very close to the elk, but contented himself with walking about it, while the animal followed him with its great mild eyes. A moment after, Hugh came up with some salt in his hand and held it out to the elk, which walked quietly up and licked the salt off his hand.

"I ain't got much use for a tame elk," said Hugh; "they're stupid critters, and 'most always mean; you never can trust 'em."

"I think just as you do, Hugh; that they're awful stupid; and I would never again take the trouble to pack a calf into camp."

Presently the elk put down its head and began to feed away from them, and they went back to their seat in the sun. A little later they went down to the corral, unsaddled the pack horses, turned them out into the pasture, and carried the riggings up to the bunk-house. It proved that Mrs. Carter had four seamless sacks that she could let them have, and with these they made up four side packs of the goods. The two centre packs they made up with gunny sacks and canvas, so that when they started they would only have to lift the packs onto the horses.

The remainder of the day was devoted to laying out their provisions and their mess-kit. Their cooking utensils were put in a wooden box to go on the load above their beds. Everything was made ready as far as possible, so that in the morning there would be nothing to do except to catch and saddle the horses, put the loads on them, and start.

The day had passed swiftly for Jack, and when night came he was pretty tired. After supper his uncle talked to him for a little while, impressing on him the necessity of caution, telling him of the responsibility that would rest on Hugh, who had charge of him for this long trip, and explaining to him that now he was starting off to act a man's part, and that he must exercise a man's discretion. He said, "Hugh feels very confident that you are old enough, and have had experience enough, to be trusted. He thinks that you will not be a cause of care or anxiety to him, but that you will understand that you must now use common sense and good judgment. I think that his estimate of you is a fairly just one, but I want you to try to be thoughtful and never let your boyish enthusiasm get the better of you. We all want you to have a good time on this trip, but we do not want you to have a good time at the cost of suffering of any sort to any older person."

"Well, Uncle Will," said Jack, "I have thought a good deal about that, too, and I know that there may be times when I'll have to use all the sense I have got, but I have made up my mind to follow Hugh's directions as closely as I can, and to try not to make a fool of myself."