THE WOLF HUNTERS 



by one, till only the captain and I and Lobo's 

 family remained. Saunders and I soon after re- 

 moved our coats and boots and turned in. 



During the evening the woman had carried in 

 several armfuls of wood and piled it convenient 

 to the fire in the centre of the lodge, and, the 

 weather being quite cold, she got up several times 

 during the night to replenish the fire. 



Saunders and I were both awake by daylight, 

 but, as our host and his family and the dogs still 

 seemed soundly sleeping, we kept our bed for 

 a time to avoid disturbing them. Finally, old 

 Lobo crawled out and, wrapping his buffalo robe 

 around him, went outside the lodge. In a few 

 minutes we heard him, in a loud voice, haranguing 

 the camp, and a few minutes later the camp was 

 all astir. 



After breakfast, on telling Lobo that we wished 

 to return to our camp, two of his boys drove the 

 herd into camp and roped our animals, which 

 were quickly saddled and packed. 



I took the remains of the plug of tobacco and 

 the packages of sugar, coffee, and hardtack out 

 of our saddle pockets, carried them into Lobo's 

 lodge, and laid them down. 



Captain Saunders, feehng disposed to reward 

 the two boys for taking care of our animals, of- 

 fered each a silver half dollar. Their young eyes 

 brightened at sight of the money, for they knew it 

 would buy them something nice at the trader's 



222 



