him alone," said John. "I give him till to-morrow. It was only a
week ago he got word through to Billy Williams, in the Three Forks
Valley, to come on with his horses."

"Well," said Jesse, "if I'm not to have half a buffalo to-night, and if
Cruzatte, the bow man, isn't here to play a jig for us, I'll see what I
can do about some fried eggs and marmalade."

"And I'll like to get a leg over leather once more," said John. "I'm
looking for horses now, same as Lewis and Clark did along in here for a
few weeks."

The young travelers did not have so long to wait as they had feared.
That very night, as they sat about their fire on their bed rolls,
talking of their many trips together, they heard in the darkness not far
away the tremulous note of a screech owl, repeated again a moment later.
Jesse stopped talking, turning his head. Rob laughed: "That's Uncle Dick
now!" he said, in a low tone; and answered with an owl call just like
the one they had heard. They heard a laugh in the dark, and from behind
the tent stepped Uncle Dick.

"How!" said he.

"How!" said each of the boys gravely. Rob made the Indian sign of "sit
down"--his fist struck down on the robe that was spread by the little
fire.

Their companion sat down, not saying a word. Pretty soon he began to
talk in "sign talk," the boys all watching closely.

_"Me. Gone. Two sleeps. I come here, now, me. Sun comes up. We go. We.
Cross water. Horse--four. Ah! Two----"_

Uncle Dick broke out laughing. John shook his fingers, loosely, to say,
"What's that?"

"That's what I don't know!" Uncle Dick said, laughing again. "I don't
know what the sign is for 'mule.' It isn't elk, or deer, or wolf, or
buffalo. Oh, of course, split fingers over another finger--that means
'Ride horse.' But that does not mean 'mule'! And if I put on ears, how'd
you know I didn't mean 'deer with-big-ears,' or 'mule deer,' and not
'mule'? The Indians had mule deer, but they didn't have mules!"

"Yes, they did!" said Jesse. "The _Journal_ says they bought one mule of
the Shoshonis, away west of here!"

"Does it? I'd forgotten. Well, I'd like to know where those people got
that mule out here, in 1805! I'd have been no more surprised to see a
mastodon really walking around out here. Of course, you know that
President Jefferson wrote Lewis not to be surprised if he did see the
mastodon still living in this unknown country. You see, all of them knew
about the mastodon bones found in the Big Lick,