The
Indian gave an almost imperceptible start, but there was no change
in his expression. He watched as before.
These moving objects grew to be oxen and prairie-schooners--a small
caravan traveling east. It wound down the trail and halted in a
circle on the bank of a stream.
The Indian scout slid backward, and the parted grass, slowly
closing, hid from his dark gaze the camp scene below. He wormed his
way back well out of sight; then rising, he ran over the summit of
the ridge to leap upon his mustang and ride wildly down the slope.
3
Bill Horn, leader of that caravan, had a large amount of gold which
he was taking back East. No one in his party, except a girl, knew
that he had the fortune.
Horn had gone West at the beginning of the gold strikes, but it was
not until '53 that any success attended his labors. Later he struck
it rich, and in 1865, as soon as the snow melted on the mountain
passes, he got together a party of men and several women and left
Sacramento. He was a burly miner, bearded and uncouth, of rough
speech and taciturn nature, and absolutely fearless.
At Ogden, Utah, he had been advised not to attempt to cross the
Wyoming hills with so small a party, for the Sioux Indians had gone
on the war-path.
Horn was leading his own caravan and finding for himself the trail
that wound slowly eastward.
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