He drew a long breath, as though the recollection of that sudden attack would give him a bad feeling for a long time to come.
“But you must have snatched up your guns and fought them?” pursued Roger, who could not picture Jasper Williams doing anything less, since he had the reputation of being an unusually valiant borderman.
“That was what we did,” replied Hardy. “After shooting and wounding some of our enemies we clubbed our guns and strove to beat our way clear of the howling pack. In some fashion Jasper became separated from us. We managed to burst through the Indians, and fled for the thickest of the neighboring woods. Somehow we did not seem to be pursued, and, wondering at that, I looked over my shoulder, hearing the yells of the savages growing fainter.”
“Yes, and what did you see?” Roger demanded.
“Jasper had managed to leap into one of their canoes, and was paddling like mad up the rough water of the Yellowstone, with the other boats in hot pursuit. They vanished from our sight around a bend in the stream, but for a long time we could hear the sound of distant yells when the wind turned that way.”
“You do not know certainly, then, that Jasper was captured or killed?” Dick asked.
“We cannot say,” replied Hardy. “All we thought about then was to get away from that region, and start back to the camp. We have seen enough of this wild country to satisfy us. By accident we managed in the darkness of the night to fall into that hole, and we have been held prisoners there ever since, suffering all the tortures of cold, hunger and despair. When we heard you call out it seemed to us the finest sound we had ever listened to.”
The men had finished their meal by now, and seemed anxious to make a start over the back trail. Dick did not attempt to influence them to change their decision, for he knew it would be futile. As they had both lost their powder-horns in the fight, and their long-barreled guns were useless without ammunition, he managed to spare a small amount of the precious stuff, enough to give them several charges apiece.
“You can shoot game, and live in that way until you reach camp,” he told them as he watched both men eagerly load their guns. “But what of these Indians who attacked your party—they were not of the Sioux or the Mandan tribes, I take it?”