26 
AMERIOAl^ AGEIOULTUEIST, 
[January, 
lend a hand,” and he looked up to see old Ben the 
“trapper,” struggling with some large contrivance. 
“ Why ! Ben, is that you ! what are you doing ? ” 
“Settin’ a bar-trap, but the pesky thing is mighty 
contrary.”—“I’ll help you, and gladly,” said Jack, 
“ but I didn’t know there were any bears round 
here.”—“ I’ve seen the tracks of a big one, and if I 
kin I want to take him alive.”—It took them half 
an hour to set the immense trap, which was a rude 
contrivance like a large box, with thick iron wire 
sides, balanced on a pole that tvould drop at a 
gentle touch, and baited with a huge lump of deer 
meat. The sun was high up before Jack started 
on.—“ Hurry up, my lad,” was the old man’s part¬ 
ing Injunction, “fOr we’ll have more snow afore 
many hours.”—Moose Lake shone like a burnished 
mirror in the sunlight, and Jack buckled on his 
skates and glided gaily over the polished surface. 
On reaching and entering the one Store the little 
place afforded, he found it filled with a motly 
crowd of ranch-men from the prairie, Indians from 
the Reservation, soldiers, from the fort, women, 
children and dogs, jostling each other in mad con¬ 
fusion, for a wagon train had just ai rived and all 
were eager to watch the unpacking, and get a first 
choice from the new supplies. It was very inter¬ 
esting to Jack, and he lingered longer than he 
should before making his purchases : storm clouds 
were flitting across the sky before his basket was 
packed, the liniment for grandma’s rheumatism 
and as the boy paused in the middle to rest on a 
sunken stump that protruded through the ice, 
it seemed very solitary, not a moving thing visible 
except a small object which appeared to be coming 
toward him from the shore. “ I wonder if it is a 
bird,” he thought; “If I had brought my gun, I 
would try my luck at it.” But a few minutes later 
he was glad it was safe at home, as the mysterious 
figure gradually resolved into a scarlet dress, and 
mass of golden curls. He started to his feet, 
exclaiming, “ Why ! Daisy Carlton, how came you 
way out here ! ” 
“ Ogla brought me,” sobbed the little six-year- 
old, “but he went off with some of his Indian 
friends, telling me to wait until he came back. He 
has been gone a long while, and oh! Jack, I am 
so glad you have come.” It was too evident 
that the “ Half Breed ” who had the care of the 
captain’s daughter, had become absoi'bed with 
his old cronies, returning to the Reservation, 
forgetting all about his young charge. 
“Well, don’t cry,” said Jack, “come with me, 
and we may meet Ogla on the other side of the 
lake.” But the shore reached, nobody was to be 
seen, and now, too, the twilight deepened, and 
large feathery flakes began to fall.—“There is 
nothing to do but take you borne with me,” said 
Jack, “ and send word to the fort as soon as pos¬ 
sible, for they will be alarmed about you.” Daisy 
assented, and trotted contentedly along by his side. 
As they entered the woods the gloom increasedy 
and before long, Daisy said she could not walk any 
further, “her feet were so heavj'.” So Jack took 
her on his back, and with this added burden, 
trudged bravely forward, though his anxiety in¬ 
creased with the darkness, and he kept his eyes 
right and left, for he knew only too well that it was 
very late to be alone and unarmed in the lonely 
forest.—“Sing, Jack!” said the child, who was 
now quite happy, riding “ pick-a-back,” as she 
called it. He tried to comply, and started a lively 
school song, but stopped suddenly in the second 
verse, as his quick eyesight caught glimpses of two 
shadowy forms moving through the nnderbnjsh, 
and four balls of fire seemed peering out of the 
depths of the wood. “Wolves!” he almost 
gasped.—“Go on !” said the little lady, “whydo 
you stop Jack ? ”—“ Hush Daisy, I can’t sing, for I 
must run;” and throwing away his skates to 
lighten his burden a trifle, he started at a quicker 
D-rawn and Engraved for the American AoricuUurist. 
face, outside her own family, once a month.—“ All 
right! Granny! I will try and remember every¬ 
thing,” replied Jack—a bright, cheery lad of four¬ 
teen, as straight and supple as a young Indian. 
“Won’t you take your gun ?” she asked.—“No, 
it would be in the way, with this great basket. 
I shall be home long before dark, and there’s 
no danger in the woods by daylight.”—“ Then 
hurry, for the days are short, and when the sun 
sets the wolves and jackals and screech owls 
make noise enough to scare the hair off your head,” 
and grandma shook her grey locks dolefully. 
—“ They are too great cowards to appear in the 
day time,” called back Jack, “and I shall fairly 
spin across the lake on my new skates.” Then 
with a cheerful nod and wave of his hand, the boy 
bounded forward over the icy crust. It was seven 
miles from the Spencer ranch to Waltham, the 
nearest trading or military Post, three miles of 
which lay through a dense forest, and two across 
Moose Lake, now frozen, where Jack anticipated a 
Gne glide on his new skates, a New Year’s gift from 
liis father. He was accustomed to make this trip 
once a fortnight, and now trudged briskly through 
the snow, swinging his basket, and awakening the 
echoes with his merry whistle, when a rough voice 
hailed him with “Halloo Jack, you are just in time to 
tucked away in his pocket, and a new mnflier for 
himself selected and tied round his neck. “I’ve 
no time to call at the fort,” thought Jack, “but I 
must leave father’s message for Captain Carlton, 
and grandma will be so disappointed if I don’t 
bring the newspapers.” So he set off on a sharp 
run for the fortification. He was a great favorite 
with the captain and his wife, and Mrs. Carleton 
welcomed him warmly, but seeing his anxiety to 
start homeward, did not press him to stay ; she 
promised to deliver the message to the captain, 
who was absent, and quickly tied up some new's- 
papers, and added some oranges and white grapes, 
part of a Christmas box from home.—“ I wish you 
could stay all night. Jack,” she said, “ but I know 
your father would be worried. Remember me to 
Mrs. Spencer, and if you see Ogla and Daisy on the 
road, please send them home. Ogla took Daisy up 
to the lake to slide on the ice, and neither have any 
idea of time.”—“I will, if I meet them; and 
thank you veiy much Mrs. Carlton.” 
Having executed all his commissions. Jack 
turned his face fairly toward home. The basket, 
heavier than in the morning, hindered his 
progress, while the wind began to whistle, and the 
gray clouds to scud across the sky with fearful 
rapidity. The lake now looked dark and sullen, 
A Western Boy’s Adventure. 
BY AGNES CaBK. 
“ Now Jack, don’t forget the meat or the meal, 
or the liniment,” said grandma Spencer, “and try 
and get some newspapers from the officers at the 
fort; ” and the old lady glanced gloomily over the 
flat prairie land, now covered with an unbroken 
crust of snow. She had come from New England 
two years before, to the cattle ranch, to keep 
house for her son and grandson, and scarcely saw a 
