“Why, are there not enough of us to take it away from him if he shows fight?”
“Perhaps so,” said Frank, “but there are not enough of us to catch him. He is safe by this time, and we’ll never put eyes on that horse again.”
The trappers said Frank was right; that an attempt to recover the lost steed would only be time and energy wasted; and this put a stop to the frantic search for saddles, bridles and weapons, in which some of the Club were engaged. The pursuit and capture of a cunning Indian thief would, the boys thought, be something to talk about in after days, and they were loth to allow so fine an opportunity for distinguishing themselves to pass unimproved. It was hard, too, to give up that fine horse, of which they had expected such great things; but the trappers’ word was law, and the Club, with much grumbling, and many hearty wishes that they might have the pleasure of meeting that Indian at some future time, threw down their bridles and gathered about Archie to hear the story of his encounter with the thief. When they had questioned him to their satisfaction, and the palms of his hands had, at Uncle Dick’s suggestion, been thickly coated with soap, they went back to their blankets and finally fell asleep again.
Archie’s slumber was not very refreshing. He could not banish thoughts of his lost horse, his head and hands throbbed, and when he managed to catch a few winks of sleep, he dreamed of wild mustangs and fights with Indians without number. By daylight his hands ceased to trouble him; but his head reminded him of the hard fall he had received, and he did not feel much like leaving his blanket. It required something, however, much out of the ordinary run of events to wholly depress Archie’s buoyant spirits; and when Dick reported to him that his old horse had been found grazing with the others, he told himself that he was in some slight degree recompensed for the loss he had sustained. While he was washing his hands and face at the brook he was joined by Fred and Eugene.
“Say, Archie,” whispered the former, looking all around to make sure that none of the rest of the Club were within hearing, “Dick says he saw those wild horses this morning.”
“Did he?” said Archie, not in the least interested in the matter, although under almost any other circumstances Fred’s enthusiasm would have affected him at once.
“Yes. Can’t you go out and catch one? We should like to see the operation, and Dick says you are first rate with the lasso.”
“The colonel’s horse is among them, you know,” said Eugene. “If you should happen to catch him you would make something by it.”
“But I couldn’t do it,” replied Archie. “If it were possible for anybody to catch him he would have been returned to his owner long before this time.”