"Why," said Hugh, "those are young men and boys that are out hunting through the brush to kill anything that's there before the camp gets along, and scares everything. We're likely to stop before we've gone much further, and to wait for the column to close up. Then those young fellows will get quite a-ways ahead. Of course, they'll kill any game that they might come across, and then too, they will scout the country for any enemies that might be about."
Hugh had hardly stopped speaking, when the old men drew in their horses, and dismounting, sat down in a circle on the ground, and the soldiers too got off their horses and the people behind them stopped. Pipes were filled and were passed from hand to hand. "What are they waiting for, Hugh?" said Jack.
"Why, you see, son," said the old man, "there's always a lot of people that are late leaving the camp, and they have stopped here to let such people catch up, so that the column won't be scattered out too far. Sometimes it happens if they straggle too much, that a little war party may dash down onto the column, and kill two or three women and then ride off again before anybody can get near enough to punish them."
After half an hour's rest, the march was taken up again and before long, the last hill was climbed, and the camp moved forward along an open ridge that led toward the prairie. From time to time the trail passed through scattering patches of aspen or through a point of pine timber running down from the mountains, but by the middle of the afternoon, they had left the mountains well behind them, and a little later, they camped in the open valley of a branch of the Milk River. It surprised Jack to see how speedily the lodges were erected and how short a time it took this unorganized mob of people to settle down into the ordinary routine of camp life.
For several days the village moved eastward, crossing the Milk River, and at last, one night, they camped near the base of the Sweet Grass Hills. Ever since leaving the mountains, buffalo had been in sight. At first only an occasional individual, then small groups of three or four bulls, later little herds. But here, at the base of the Sweet Grass Hills, they were abundant, and from an elevation the prairie was seen to be dotted with them, almost as far as the eye could reach. On the march a few buffalo had been killed by men who had stolen up to them quietly; but no one had chased buffalo, for the chiefs had given strict orders against it.
CHAPTER XXII. RUNNING BUFFALO.
Just before sundown one evening, as Jack and Hugh sat in front of the lodge, the now familiar voice of the old crier was heard shouting the news to the camp. At first the words uttered at a great distance had no meaning, but as the old man drew nearer, Hugh nodded his head as he listened, and Jack asked, "What is he saying, Hugh?"