CHAPTER XXXVI

READY TO ATTACK

There was a ford but it was rocky and dangerous, and so narrow that
horse after horse slipped aside into the swift current, bearing his
rider with him into the icy water. Comrades hauled the unfortunate
ones forth, and fires were hastily built under shelter of the south
bank. Those who reached the landing dry shared their extra clothing
with those water-soaked, and hot coffee was hastily served to all
alike. Eager as the men were to push forward, more than an hour was
lost in passage, for the stream was bank full, the current rapid and
littered with quantities of floating ice. Some of these ice cakes
startled the struggling horses and inflicted painful wounds, and it was
only by a free use of ropes and lariats that the entire command finally
succeeded in attaining the southern shore. Shivering with the cold,
the troopers again found their saddles and pressed grimly forward on
the trail. Hamlin, with five others, led the way along a beaten track
which had been trampled by the passing herd of Indian ponies and
plainly marked by the trailing poles of numerous wicky-ups.

This led straight away into the south across the valley of the
Canadian, on to the plains beyond. The snow here was a foot deep on a
level, and in places the going was heavy. As they advanced, the
weather moderated somewhat, and the upper crust became soft. Before
them stretched the dreary level of the plains, broken by occasional
ravines and little isolated patches of trees. No sign of Indians was
seen other than the-deserted trail, and confident that the band had had
fully twenty-four hours' start their pursuers advanced as rapidly as