Left On The Prairie Part 2

'Well! how did you get on last night?'

'Very badly, Steve,' returned the boy, and related how he had been treated. Great was Steve's indignation when he heard what had taken place and looked at Jack's bruised back.

'Poor little lad!' he said pityingly. 'He has been hard on you, I can see. He licked me once in a rage, an' I wouldn't stay a day longer in his house, for I hadn't done wrong. I saw him to-day, an' we had a terrible row over you. I gave him a piece o' my mind about the way he was keepin' you from your folks under false pretences.'

'Steve!' cried Jack suddenly, a ray of joy crossing his face, 'I've got a plan in my head. You ran away from home, an' why shouldn't _I_?'

'Aye! but I was a big fellow over sixteen, an' you're but a little un, not much more than a baby yet,' returned Steve.

'But I shouldn't be afraid to try,' declared Jack stoutly. 'I might get lifts from folks goin' along the road.'

'You're right there,' exclaimed Steve. 'It isn't such a bad idea after all. You're a plucky boy, for I never thought as you had the grit to make a bolt on it. If you're sure you aren't frightened to go so far alone, I do believe as I might be able to help you a bit on your way.'

'Could you, Steve?' cried Jack. 'Oh! do tell me how.'

'Well! There's a waggon here now belongin' to some miners who are on their way to the "Rockies" to prospect. I know one o' them, an' it would be a grand scheme if he would let you go along with him. Shall I ask him?'

'Please do,' said Jack. 'I'm ready to start any minute they want to go, an' I promise I won't give 'em any trouble. Oh, Steve, I must get away from here!'

'All right! I'll try an' fix it for you,' returned Steve. 'Wouldn't it be a surprise for your folks if they saw you walk in one fine day?

I don't quite know where they live, except that they're somewhere on the Cochetopa Creek, but I reckon if you do get that far as you'll find 'em. I'll see the miner to-morrow. He's campin' t'other side o' the village. I guess he won't object to takin' you, as I'll tell him you're a handy little chap. I believe I'd have gone an' seen you safe there myself, but I'm goin' to look after cattle down on the Huerfano.'

'You are good to me, Steve!' cried Jack, throwing his arms round the cowboy's neck and hugging him. 'I thought you'd save me somehow, an' I do love you so.'

'There! That'll do, young un,' said Steve good-naturedly. 'Go home an' keep quiet, for if that woman gets wind o' our plans, it'll be all up, for she ain't goin' to give up a slavey like you. But, look here!

How shall I let you know if he'll take you?' as Jack was turning to go.

He stopped, and after a little more talking it was decided that Steve was to interview the miner on Jack's behalf, and if the man agreed to let the boy go with him to the mountains, Steve was to ride past his father's house the next morning and wave a red handkerchief as a sign of success.

They parted in great spirits, for both were too young to understand what a great undertaking they were contemplating for a little child.

Jack had no notion of the distance it was to his parents' new home, and Steve was rather vague about it. Jack's one idea was to start off and find his father and mother somehow.

The next day Mrs. Byrne was in a very bad temper and was a great trial to poor Jack. Nothing he could do was right in her eyes, and being in a state of anxious excitement himself over the result of Steve's mission, he made some trifling blunders which brought swift correction upon him, and many a time his ear tingled from a blow from her hand.

He was busily engaged in washing the kitchen floor when he heard a horse coming rapidly along the dusty road. He knew what it was, and, unable to resist the temptation, he jumped up from his knees and rushed to the door. Unluckily for him, Mrs. Byrne came in from the garden at that moment and met him at the doorway. Seeing him, as she thought, neglecting his work, she seized him by the arm, and pulling him back roughly into the kitchen, said angrily, 'You lazy imp, the moment my back's turned you leave the washin'! I thought your uncle had taught you a lesson two nights ago; an', mark you, I'll give you another hidin' as you'll remember if I catch you shirkin' your work.'

But Jack cared nothing for her threatening words now. In the one glimpse he had got through the doorway he had seen Steve galloping past, and waving in his hand the red handkerchief of success.

Hope sprang high in the boy's heart, and with a bright smile on his face he set to work once more at the dirty floor, scrubbing with a will. Nothing put him out again that day. He carried pail after pail of water through the hot sun without a sigh, although it blistered his hands, for there was a great thought of joy to cheer him on: 'The last time for her!'

When he met Steve in the evening he heard the waggon was to start at daybreak, and Jeff Ralston, the miner, was willing to take him as far as the mountains if he were there in time, but on no consideration would he wait one moment for him.

'I'll be there, never fear!' exclaimed Jack joyfully.

'This Jeff seems a rough, good-natured fellow,' went on Steve, 'an'

he'll be kind to you, I guess, if he don't get drunk. He's like my father when he's drunk: he ain't no use at all; but there isn't much to drink on the prairie, so I expect you'll be all right.'

Jack was quite grateful enough to please Steve, although the little boy did not know that his kind-hearted cousin had given the miner some of his own hard-earned dollars to secure his goodwill towards the youthful traveller.

'You'd better get home an' to bed now,' said Steve at last, 'or you'll miss getting up in time. I hope you'll get through safe, Jack, an'

perhaps I'll come an' look you up myself some day.'

'Good-bye, Steve; I won't ever forget you, an' I'll tell Father an'

Mother how you helped me off to see them,' said Jack gratefully, and after an affectionate farewell the cousins parted.

Jack went to bed directly he got into the house, but never a wink of sleep did he get. He lay quite still for hours, until the deep breathing through the thin part.i.tions told him that the rest of the family were slumbering soundly. Then he arose and dressed himself.

Making no noise, and carrying his boots and a blanket which was his own property, he quietly got out of his window, and in a few minutes was hurrying along the road towards the outskirts of the village in the direction of the miners' camp.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'HE GOT OUT OF HIS WINDOW.']

It was a starlight night, which enabled him before very long to make out a big prairie schooner a little way ahead of him, with four horses tethered near by long ropes. Close up under the waggons he saw the figures of two men sleeping on the ground, and not wishing to disturb them, he lay down near them to wait until they awoke. But his long hours of wakefulness had tired him out and he fell asleep.

He was aroused by a stir in camp to find preparations going on for breakfast. He felt chilly from lying on the ground, and was not sorry to see a nice fire of sticks burning near him. A man was putting a kettle of water on to boil, and as Jack rose up and approached him, he welcomed him in a gruff but not unkindly way.

'How do, kid? I reckoned I'd leave you to sleep it out? Are you the young un as Steve Byrne came to inquire about? You want to go along with our outfit as far as the Range, don't you?'

'Yes, please,' answered Jack. 'I'm goin' to my father. He's way over in the San Luis Valley, up on the Cochetopa Creek.'

'_Cochetopa Creek_!' e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the man. 'Why, boy, that's over two hundred an' fifty miles from here, an' you'll have to cross the "Rockies," too. Say, Lem,' he called out, 'here's an enterprising young un. He's startin' off alone for Cochetopa Creek. What d'you think o' that?'

'He'll never get there,' returned his companion, who had been looking after the horses and came up at that moment.

'You're right, Lem, I do believe,' said the first speaker. 'Just listen to me, boy! A kid like you can never travel so far. Take my advice an' go back to the folks as look after you here.'

'No, I won't,' answered Jack st.u.r.dily; 'I've started now, an' I ain't going back for no one. If you won't take me I'll go on an' walk. My father sent for me, but my uncle won't let me go. I guess he shan't stop me now.'

'Well, you're a plucky kid, as sure as my name's Jeff Ralston,'

declared the miner.

'How soon is grub to be ready?' asked Lem impatiently. 'I'd better harness up the team while I'm waitin', as we want to get away soon.'

'All right. I'll call you when I've made some oatmeal porridge. Here, kid, go to the waggon an' get out the tin cups an' plates.'

Jack obeyed, and was so quick getting out the things, he pleased Jeff, who remarked to him, when he saw Lem was safe out of earshot: 'Look here! Ye're a sharp lad, an' I'm glad I promised Steve Byrne as I'd do my best for you. All the same, I'm a bit afraid as to how Lem'll take it, for he can't abide kids, an' I haven't told him as you're a-comin'

along with us. He's my mate an' a terribly cranky chap.'

'I won't bother him a bit,' cried Jack, delighted to find one of his escort inclined to be so friendly, and hoping to be able in time to please the doubtful Lem too.

Jack confessed to himself he did not like the man's looks at all, and when Jeff at breakfast intimated to him that he intended to take 'the kid' along, he only received a disapproving 'Humph' in return. Jack, distrusting the dark, sullen face, determined to have as little as possible to do with him while he formed one of their party.

CHAPTER IV.

JACK STARTS ON HIS JOURNEY.

The sun had not risen far above the horizon when the waggon started.