e, and her actions,
even in the corral at Independence, told Hank all about her. He now took
from a pack a bell and, riding up to the plodding, sedate pack animal,
fastened it around her neck. Then he tied her to the rear of the second
of Cooper's big wagons, until she should learn that this was to be her
place under all conditions, and dropped back farther and farther while
he watched the other seven. At the sound of the tinkling bell they had
pricked up their long ears and rolled them forward; a certain important
dignity came over each one and they went ahead with an air of
satisfaction that was so apparent that it was ludicrous. Hank grinned
and rode off to play rear guard all by himself, well knowing that his
seven animals would follow the old bell-mare wherever she led, whether
he was there or not. Later he rewarded her by changing her pack and
substituting that of the dwindling food supply, which grew lighter after
every camp. When he finally freed her from the wagon she moved up
alongside the off-wheel mule, for whom she seemed to have an abiding
affection, and from then on she would not stray from his side, nor her
seven followers from her.

On this occasion when Tom returned and found his partner absent, he
surmised that the trapper was off looking for an antelope to vary the
monotony of their fare and to save their bacon and flour. Until the
buffalo country was reached the caravan had to live on flour, bacon, and
perhaps beans, of which each traveler had a limited supply. The chief
reliance for food was the buffalo, and their range was still well ahead.
Tom and Hank, however, not knowing what contingency awaited them on the
Mexican end of the trail, had far exceeded the regular allowance per
man, of fifty pounds of flour, same of bacon, dozen pounds of coffee,
twenty-five pounds of sugar, and a goodly amount of salt. Topping one of
the packs, and dwarfing the patient mule nearly hidden under the load,
were two ten-gallon water casks, each with a few quarts sloshing around
inside. At every stop these kegs were shifted a little so as to give
each portion of them a soaking in turn. The powder, two twenty-five
pound kegs covered with oiled cloth and over that with a heavy, greased
bull-buffalo leather, were in the same packs with the bar lead and a
reserve supply of caps and patches. The bullet molds, nipple wrenches,
and other small necessaries were carried in their "possible" sacks, each
being a beautifully bead