“Indians!  Indians!” shouted Dell, who arrived in the lead.  “Indians have been chasing us all afternoon.  Run for your life, Jack!”

Joel swept past a moment later, accenting the situation, and as Sargent left the corral, he caught sight of the pursuing Indians, and showed splendid action in reaching the dug-out.

Breathless and gasping, Dell and Joel each grasped a repeating rifle, while Sargent, in the excitement of the moment, unable to unearth the story, buckled on a six-shooter.  The first reconnoitre revealed the Indians halted some two hundred yards distant, and parleying among themselves.  At a first glance, the latter seemed to be unarmed, and on Sargent stepping outside the shack, the leader, the old brave, simply held up his hand.

“They must be peaceful Indians,” said Sargent to the boys, and signaled in the leader.

The old Indian jogged forward on his tired pony, leaving his followers behind, and on riding up, a smile was noticeable on his wrinkled visage.  He dismounted, unearthing from his scanty breech-clout a greasy, grimy letter, and tendered it to Sargent.

The latter scanned the missive, and turning to the boys, who had ventured forth, broke into a fit of laughter.

“Why, this is Chief Lone Wolf,” said Sargent, “from the Pine Ridge Agency, going down to see his kinsfolks in the Indian Territory.  The agent at Pine Ridge says that Lone Wolf is a peaceful Indian, and has his permission to leave the reservation.  He hopes that nothing but kindness will be shown the old chief in his travels, and bespeaks the confidence of any white settlers that he may meet on the way.  You boys must have been scared out of your wits.  Lone Wolf only wanted to show you this letter.”

Sargent conversed with the old chief in Spanish, the others were signaled in, when a regular powwow ensued.  Dell and Joel shook hands with all the Indians, Sargent shared his tobacco with Lone Wolf, and on returning to their encampment at evening, each visitor was burdened with pickled beef and such other staples as the cow-camp afforded.

CHAPTER XX

HARVEST ON THE RANGE

Joel set out for the Republican the next morning and was gone four days.  The beef ranches along the river had no men to spare, but constant inquiry was rewarded by locating an outfit whose holdings consisted of stock cattle.  Three men were secured, their services not being urgently required on the home ranch until the fall branding, leaving only a cook and horse wrangler to be secured.  Inquiry at Culbertson located a homesteader and his boy, anxious for work, and the two were engaged.

“They’re to report here on the 15th,” said Joel, on his return.  “It gives us six men in the saddle, and we can get out the first shipment with that number.  The cook and wrangler may be a little green at first, but they’re willing, and that masters any task.  We’ll have to be patient with them—­we were all beginners once.  Any man who ever wrestled with a homestead ought to be able to cook.”