THE WOLF HUNTERS 



''Just the thing!" exclaimed Jack. "We'll take 

 him along, all right, an' we won't leave him at Fort 

 Larned, either — ^we'U keep him till you call for 

 im. 



"Well, boys, I b'lieve he'll be useful to you, for 

 he's a shepherd an' takes to minding stock natu- 

 rally, an' he's a good all-round watch-dog — one of 

 the smartest I ever saw. I call him 'Found,' 

 'cause I found him when he seemed to be lost. 

 You'll have to keep him tied up for a few days 

 when you leave here; after that, I think, he'll stick 

 to you, 'cause he's been used to lookin' after them 

 mules an' ponies all summer. But, mind you, now, 

 I ain't a-givin' him to you — only lendin' him." 



"All right, Bill; he's your dog," said Tom, "an* 

 we'll take good care of him till you want him." 

 Thus Found became one of us. 



That afternoon Tom began the work of esti- 

 mating the supplies that we would need for our 

 winter's trip, endeavoring to calculate the quan- 

 tity of each item of the provisions and from that 

 the weight that we would have to haul in our 

 wagon. As an old soldier, he made his figures on 

 the basis of rations — one man's allowance of each 

 article of food for one day. He said: 



"We'll make our estimate at about the rate of 

 government rations, but, as we don't have to re- 

 strict ourselves exactly to Uncle Sam's allowance 

 we'll allow a margin in some things to suit our 



own notions." 



32 



