"What do the hunters get?" queried Hal.
"Well, for bigger game, bear and mountain antelope mostly. Then some parties go after birds; there's plenty of them, too, in the mountains, at the right seasons."
"Say!" exploded Noll, his eyes shining.
"Think ye'd like to go on a hunting party, do ye?" asked the soldier. "Get up yer record for marksmanship, then."
"What's done with the game?" asked Noll innocently.
"What——" the soldier started to repeat. Then he added, dryly:
"Oh, we send the game to the hospitals in Denver and Pueblo, of course!"
"Don't we get any of it to eat?" asked Noll, looking up.
"Say, don't ever go off with a party that doesn't bring back a big haul of game," advised the older soldier. "If ye do, the company cooks will lynch ye. Why, that's what we go hunting for—to vary the bill of fare here at the post. Sometimes, when we're all just aching for bear steaks, an officer and twenty or thirty men all hike off at once into the mountain trails. There are plenty of game dinners at Clowdry, at different times in the year."
Then the soldier climbed leisurely to the seat of his wagon and started on again.