Chapter 50

“Wild dogs are even worse than coyotes. A hungry dog will attack anything to get food!” Isaac said.

“Isaac’s right, we need to start looking for a place to camp where we’ll have plenty of wood for a big fire,” Eli told them as they trudged ahead.

“I don’t remember ever seeing many trees out here on the open plains like this, do you?” Ezra asked.

“No, but we may come upon a small creek or even a slough that has trees. We’ll need a fire for sure, if there are more than those two!” Eli told them.

Just then... “ELI, LOOK!” Pike yelled, pointing ahead and to the west of them.

There was a stand of trees, some tall, some short, at what looked to be a slough over a quarter-mile away.

“It’s early yet, but we had better make our way over there. We’ll be safer there with a big fire than we would out there in the open with no fire. Just in case there happens to be more of those wild dogs, or whatever they are,” Eli said, moving ahead to turn the mules toward the trees in the distance.

“OH HELL! Look over there now, Eli!” Ezra said, pointing again toward the trees.

There stood a dozen or more of the wild animals, standing tall, looking toward the caravan headed right toward them.

“What now? They may be denned up over there in those trees, for all we know,” Isaac said as he rode beside Eli.

“Then we’ll just run them off and take over their wooded cover for the night ... The more I look at them, the more I think they are dogs. No telling how long they’ve been running wild either. If they’ve been wild for a few generations, which it looks like – as many as we see – they’ve already reverted back to their feral ancestors.”

“That means they’ll attack in packs like wolves! We need to be really careful,” Micah told them.

“He’s right. We’ll need to be extra careful during daylight hours and even more careful during the night,” Eli told them as the mules led the procession, plodding closer and closer to the wooded area.

The closer they came, they could see signs that this was in fact an old dried up slough bed, with more dead trees than live ones.

“Eli, there’s about eight or ten of those dogs standing over here to my right, just over that rise, not even a hundred yards out!” Ezra said and pointed.

“There’s another bunch over here with about that many too. Lets stop our horses and slip down onto the snow. We can stand on this crusted snow and aim across our saddles, with three of us shooting in each direction. Make sure each of you takes out a different animal, whatever they are. If we kill enough of them, they’ll more than likely high-tail it out of here.”

Without causing too much commotion, the six Bucks eased up to stop the mules. They slipped their Winchesters out of their scabbards, standing beside their horses. With their arms resting on their saddles, they were able to hold their weight off the crusted snow enough to take close aim across their horses.

Each group of three made hand signs as they picked the predator they would kill first.

“When we kill one or two, they may turn on each other in a feeding frenzy at the sight of blood and attack the dead and wounded. Keep shooting until they’re all dead if that happens,” Eli whispered as they lined up back to back in threes, ready to shoot.

“Everyone ready?” Eli asked softly, answered by five whispers.

“Take ‘em!” he said, and the six rifles broke the silence as one, sounding as if the cold earth was splitting open in the pure white, frozen world. By the time the first wild animals fell to the ground, yelping and bleeding, the Bucks were sighting in on more of them as they did exactly what Eli had predicted. The wild, dog-like animals were attacking the wounded and even biting their own legs as more bullets rained in on them.

“How many got away over there?” Eli asked, just after taking his last shot at a running dog.

“One is still running like hell for the trees and another one is half crawling, half hobbling on the crust. He won’t last long the way it looks,” Ezra told him

“We had one leave out running over here, but Eli cut him nearly half into right in mid stride. That son-of-a-bitch balled up and skidded for another fifty feet on the frozen show when he fell!” Isaac said.

They laughed nervous laughs, then sighs of relief, as their breaths fogged the air around them.

“Lets just say we killed at least a dozen altogether, my guess is there are that many, if not more of them left. You can bet that there are others hunting for food out further than this bunch was from their dens. Be damned careful from now on until we get home, “ Eli told them as he swung his leg across his saddle, still holding his rifle.

“Better reload now before we head out. Never know when we’ll run upon more of them!” He told them, already slipping cartridges in his rifle, before he started the mules out again.

As quickly as they could, each of them reloaded the five to six cartridges they’d fired, then headed out behind the trudging mules.

The slough ran east and west and they circled around to come in from the south, since they could see clearly along the north side where the snowdrifts were extremely deep. When they neared the treeline, the snow on the south side was deep at first, then when they’d closed to within thirty to forty feet, the snow was only a few inches deep.

“Damn, look at all these tracks. There must be fifty or more of them here to make this many tracks!” Pike said as they looked at the tracks in the shallow snow.

“Eli, I see a place up ahead that looks like an old beaver dam built across the slough. Not many trees still standing close on either side of it either,” Ezra told him.

“Go with him, Caleb. Y’all be careful up there, but check it out before we take these mules and horses in too close. They’re too tired to do much running and they’d never be able to run if we hit deep snow again ... with wild dogs chasing us.”

“Eli, do you think it’s safe to stop here right in the middle of those animals?” Pike asked as they kept looking around, scanning the trees with a keen eye for any movement.

“I’d rather we stay here with plenty of firewood for the night than out there on the open plains with no wood and no cover. We’ve got to rest these mules and horses before we can go on much further anyway.”

“I reckon you’re right, I was just worried about all those wild dogs.”

“So you’re thinking they may be wild dogs too?”

“It’s the only thing they can be, Eli. Their bodies are too big for coyotes and their legs aren’t long enough for a wolf.”

“I was thinking that very thing, Pike, when I first called them dogs. We should be alright here. We’ll have our mules and horses to alarm us if they try to sneak back in during the night. Besides that, we’ll burn that whole beaver dam completely up if we need to, just to have a fire all night,” Eli told him.

“Eli, that is a beaver dam like we thought. Looks like it’s been abandoned for a long time though. There’s plenty of dry wood in there, and we can make camp right at the edge of it on this side and keep the horses and mules near us too,” Caleb told him as he rode up in a hurry.

“Lets go make camp and get these horses and mules fed and watered. Did you see any water up there Ezra?”

“No, everything is frozen, Eli. I reckon we’ll have to melt more snow.”

“Well, lets get after it. It’s still a few hours before dark, but we have a long night ahead of us.”

Once again, working as a team, the Young Bucks made camp, getting a fire going and tending the horses and mules. As soon as the fire was hot, they placed all the metal containers they had on the fire – filled with snow. Each time the snow in a skillet or coffee pot melted down, they piled more snow in it.

After melting snow for an hour, the mules and horses finally drank their fill. Then they made coffee in the two pots and placed them on the fire to perk.

“Lets get these travois’ off the mules and take their packsaddles off. They’ve pulled more than their share of this load and we’ll need them rested in the morning if we plan on being home by dark tomorrow,” Eli told them.

“You think we’re that close, Eli?” Micah asked as he helped Eli loosen the poles from the travois on one mule, and prop the ends of the poles on a tall dry stump.

“I feel like we’re within a half day, maybe a little over, Micah. I know we’ve made at least five or six miles each day on our way back, even with this snow.

“I figured we traveled close to thirty miles to get up to where we hunted, and tomorrow will be the sixth day on our trip back.”

“Damn, I hope you’re right, Eli. I love being out here like this and killing deer like we have, but I sure will be glad to see one of the tall, oil well derricks in the distance, won’t you?”

“I’m ready to get home too. We just need to be extra careful tonight. If there are many more of those wild dogs close by, they may try to take some of our meat or even attack us. We’ll take turns standing watch with plenty of fires built in a circle out a ways from our main campfire.”

“Damn, Eli. You think of everything ... I sure am glad you’re my brother. I don’t reckon I ever told you that before.”

“Thanks, Micah. I’m glad you’re my brother too, just as I’m proud to have all my brothers. We sure had a good time on our first deer hunt by ourselves ... didn’t we?”

“We sure did, Eli. I still can’t believe I killed a buck bigger than the one you killed! I thought yours was the biggest buck ever.”

“I’m really proud of you too, Micah. That has the be the biggest deer we’ve ever seen. Now, lets get these mules tended to before our brothers see us down in this snow blubbering like this,” Eli said, bumping his shoulder against Micah’s shoulder as they looked at each other and smiled.

They were still laughing as they finished up.

By the time they had the mules and horses watered and fed, they had a roaring fire built at the edge of the old slough. The felled trees and loose limbs had long ago dried, making good fuel for a fire such as the one they’d need, with dark coming on fast.

They tied their horses and mules in a picketline near their camp to keep them close. With all their camp supplies and saddles around the main fire, they also circled their travois’ between them and their mounts.

“Lets go out in pairs again and pile limbs and sticks all around our camp for now. We’ll light them later, then keep all of them stoked until its too dark to be safe out there. All of us need to stay close together after dark – no matter what happens,” Eli told them as he looked around, his eyes meeting each of his brothers’.

With the seriousness of their situation weighing on them, the Young Bucks prepared for a night like they’d never experienced before. This would prove to be a true test of their fortitude and their ability to overcome fear in the face of danger.

When they’d chosen spots for fire sites around their camp in a big circle, they piled the sites high with plenty of dry wood and placed a small pile of shavings beneath each pile for tender. They were always watchful as they worked, scouring their surroundings constantly as darkness began to close in around them.

In the distance, they could hear the howls beginning. First one, then two, then many, as others in the pack began to join the echoing call of hungry wild predators on the prowl.

“Isaac, you still got some of those fuses and caps?” Eli asked as they tried to relax by the fire. They sat drinking coffee and talking, still making plans, trying to ignore the danger that lay too close for comfort around their cold, unprotected campsite for the night.

“Yep. I forgot all about that until now. How many sticks of dynamite do you have?” Isaac said as he sat upright, feeling better all of a sudden with the mention of dynamite.

“I’ve got five left. I almost took them out of my saddlebags and left them in the barn when we saddled up. I’m glad I didn’t now. We may need one or two before morning.”

“Eli, do you think they will really come past the outer fires and attack us for our deer?” Pike asked.

“I’m not sure if they’re that brave or not. But we need to plan for the worst. We can tell by the sounds of those already howling, their numbers are way too many for us to stand off if they all come at once!

“While we wait a little longer to light the outer fires, lets take our scopes off our rifles. We won’t need them again before we get home and we’ll be able to sight better in the dim light with open sights.”

This kept the six of them busy for a few minutes as they removed their scopes, wrapping them in cloths and stowing them in their packs.