THE WOLF HUNTERS 



could see the store, I saw that the jay hawkers' 

 horses was all hitched to the fence an' I knew they 

 was inside. Pretty soon they all comes out an' 

 mounts, an' all except this man Tucker struck out 

 toward their camp. After seein' them off. Tucker 

 mounted an' struck off in a different direction, up 

 the creek like. I couldn't make out what he was 

 up to, but I thought I would go in an' have a chat 

 with the storekeeper as soon as the coast was 

 clear. I went in an' had quite a talk with the ol' 

 man, an', sure enough, he had heard enough of 

 their talk to make sure that their plan was about 

 what Tom had guessed it would be. They would 

 go back to their camp an' wait till after midnight, 

 an' then mount an' take a circuit 'round our 

 camp, pass, an' git ahead of us, an' lay for us in 

 the timber at the crossing of the next creek, which 

 the old man says is only a mile and a half from 

 here. Tucker had concluded that while he sent 

 his men back to camp he would ride over the 

 route they intended to take an' look at the lay 

 of the land so as to be able to place his men to 

 the best advantage to get the drop on us. 



**In going to the place he had kept up the creek 

 for a piece an' then circled 'round across the 

 prairie to the little creek so's not to be seen or 

 heard by any of us here; but in comin' back he 

 had followed the main road, 'cause he knew it 

 was too dark by that time for any of us to tell 

 who he was as he passed along the road. 



66 



