The chief shook his head decidedly. "Must travel quick and be able to
gallop fast. My white brothers must take nothing but what they can carry
with them."

"All right, chief; we will not overload ourselves. We will just take our
robes and blankets, our shooting-irons, some tea and sugar, and a few
pounds of flour. At what time shall we start?"

"In an hour we will ride out from the fort."

"We shall be ready. Ten minutes would fix us, except that I must go into
the fort and sell my critter and what flour and outfit we sha'n't want,
to a trader there.

"I ain't done badly by that deal," Jerry said when he returned. "I have
sold the pony for more than I gave for him; for the red-skins have been
keeping away from the fort of late, and the folks going by are always
wanting horses in place of those that have died on the way. The other
things all sold for a good bit more than we gave for them at Denver.
Carriage comes mighty high on these plains; besides, the trader took his
chances and reckoned them in."

"How do you mean, Jerry?"

"Waal, I told him we was going up to the Shoshone Sierra, and intended
to hunt about and to come back, maybe by the Yellowstone and then by the
Bear rivers, and that we would take the price of the goods out in trade
when we got back. That made it a sort of lottery for him, for if we
never came back at all he would never have to pay, so he could afford to