Another day and still others followed, during which the boys kept sturdily heading into the northwest. It seemed so strange to them that, on account of the many hindrances, they could not overtake the explorers, who were always just a few days’ journey ahead of them.
Of course this was caused by the fact that the boys had frequently to make detours in order to avoid Indian villages that they discovered on the river bank; and in more than a few cases these circuits were the cause of their losing the river entirely, so that they wasted one or more days hunting for it again.
But their dogged determination to attain the object which had caused them to start on their undertaking never flagged. No matter what difficulties beset them, they would keep everlastingly at it until they had met with disaster, or else succeeded in their quest.
It was this spirit of never-say-die that made frontier boys develop into the resolute men they afterwards became; and which caused them to continually push out farther and farther into the unknown land until finally they had conquered the whole West, to transform the wilderness into one vast fertile region, where the grain to feed the nations of the world was to be grown later on; and the vast herds of long horned cattle were to graze by hundreds of thousands, taking the place of the vanishing bison.
Of course they met with many sights which were novel to their eyes, and would always remain fresh in their memories. But after all these weeks of journeying over the prairie, they were by degrees becoming quite familiar with the conditions connected with this new life; and as they became accustomed to them the boys grew more adept in accepting chances to creep up on antelope and scattered bison, so as to secure a shot and thus provide themselves with fresh meat.
On one occasion Dick had found an opportunity to try a clever expedient that he had heard spoken of by other hunters, but never before practised himself.
It happened that several antelope were feeding at some little distance from a hunch of grass in which the hunter had ensconced himself, in the hope that they would wander that way.
He had his rifle, since on that level stretch of ground it was not likely that any Indians might hear the report, or if they did, attach any special meaning to it.
Since the shy little animals did not seem to be feeding that way, Dick realized that if he hoped to get any fresh meat that day he must resort to some ruse. Having a red handkerchief with him, he conceived the idea of attempting the trick those old hunters had spoken about.
The antelope seems to have more than average curiosity, and will allow this failing to have full sway even when its instincts give warning of danger.