After he had been dragged a distance Parker realized by a penetrating odor that he was near the horse hovels. There was a mumbled discussion between his captors as to whether he should be tied to the moose sled. It was decided that his arms should be left pinioned as they were, and Hackett growled:
“I won't tie him to the sled! I'll be needin' him on the steep pitches.”
As his arms were tied behind his back, when they put an old fur coat on him they pulled the sleeves of it on his legs and buttoned the coat behind. In spite of the bandage over his eyes, he easily recognized these operations, and then felt himself lifted upon the familiar moose sled. Several bags full of something were thrown on. With his ears strained for every sound that would give him any information, he heard some one approaching even before the two men, busy between camp and sled, were warned.
“Hark!” grunted the voice of Colonel Ward, at last. “Who's that movin' round back of the hoss hovel? Look out, Hackett! Throw something acrost the sled. He's comin' this way.” A moment after, his tones full of disgust, he snorted, “It's that infernal old moose! Here, hand me that ax!”
A hurry of feet, and then Parker heard the impact of a crushing blow and the muffled groan of a stricken animal. The ax blows continued, apparently dealt with fury, and in a few moments the old man creaked across the crust, dragging some heavy object.
“Here's your fresh meat, Hackett—two hind-quarters,” he panted. “Load it on.”
“The boys will be r'iled to find Ben here in the mornin'!” whined the other man.
“He won't eat any more grain f'r me!” the colonel boomed, wrathfully. “Then again, it will show that after Mister Railroad Man broke out of the wangan camp he killed the moose to get grub to last him for his trip, bein' afraid to tackle Gid Ward's camps. The boys will be ready to massacree him if they can lay hands on him, but,” his tones became ominously significant, “remember your lines now, man! Get away and I'll look after this end.”
Parker felt the loaded sled glide over the crust. He could hardly believe that these men meditated anything except a change in his place of imprisonment; but as the sled moved on and on, and in his helplessness he weighed the situation, he began to feel a vague fear of possibilities. He began to plan means of escape. When at last the sled went scaling down a long slope, he rolled off on the crust.
As he lay there, he expected every moment to hear the man shout an oath and return. When the hasty creaking of the footsteps died away, he knew that the lightened sled, following of its own momentum, had not betrayed him.