“But it can’t be helped,” said Fred, “and we might as well laugh as cry over it.”
“Throw us a couple of saddles yer,” said Silas, who at this moment came up, leading Archie’s horse and Eugene’s.
“What have you done with my nag?” asked Fred.
“Turned him loose, I reckon,” was the encouraging reply. “I turned two loose.”
“Then I might as well put my saddle away in the bushes,” said Fred, “so that I shall know where to find it if I ever have occasion to use it again.”
When the preparations for their journey were all completed, Reuben and Simon, in obedience to orders, climbed to their seats in the wagons and drove after Zack, who rode over the prairie; the boys and the Pike fell in behind on foot, and Silas brought up the rear, riding Archie’s horse and carrying one of the Henry rifles across the horn of his saddle.
“I declare this beats anything I ever heard of,” said Eugene, whose wrath had not yet had time to cool; “six able-bodied fellows captured and marched off by one-third of their number!”
“But it isn’t so very bad after all, when you come to think of it,” returned Fred. “I have heard of three car-loads of passengers being robbed by four men.”
“These hunters must have followed us all day yesterday,” continued Eugene, “and of course they are after the Pike’s money; but I don’t see how they could have come into our camp and taken possession of our weapons without awakening some of us.”
“Ask them how they did it,” suggested Archie. “They know.”