The Saga of Harlan Waugh (The Mountain Men) by Terry Grosz Read Free Book Online

boys and told them to get together their Hawkens, plenty of powder and shot, their gutting and skinning knives, and some jerky.
    “We are going off with our newfound friends to make meat,” he told them. From the looks on the boys’ faces, Harlan could tell they were excited beyond belief.
    “Go on, now,” he urged, and the boys were off like a shot, eager for a new adventure.
    Turning to Meek, Harlan said, “Tell the chief we would be honored, and since we could use some fresh meat ourselves, we will help them kill many buffalo with our rifles.”
    When Joe advised the chief of Harlan’s decision, he got a big smile, and the translation created a ripple of excitement that went through the Indians’ ranks at the prospect of having the big Hawkens as an aid in getting some great-tasting winter rations.

     

Chapter Seven
     
    Making Meat
     
    From behind a small hill the band of hunters watched a herd of about 150 buffalo feeding in a brush-covered creek bottom some fifty yards away. Harlan, the chief, and Joe Meek conferred about the plan of attack. Soon Harlan returned to the boys to advise them of the plan. The three of them with their five Hawkens would follow the ravine down to a small hill at the bottom overlooking the feeding buffalo.
    They would quietly climb the hill and, staying out of sight of the animals, start shooting those at the closest edge of the herd. Once the herd started to move off, the Snake warriors would give chase from two sides, killing as many as they could. By then, the rest of the tribe—made up of mostly women, children, and young men—would have arrived, and the butchering and hauling would commence.
    With a wave of the hand for good luck to the rest of the hunters, off went Harlan and the boys. In about forty minutes they were in position and quietly spread out just below the ridgeline. Harlan took three Hawkens, and each boy carried his own rifle as they crawled to a point at the top of the ridge from which they could see the animals below.
    On Harlan’s signal, they started shooting. Five shots from the Hawkens dropped five cow buffalo right off the bat. Harlan was pleased that the boys had done so well with shot placement, and watching them rapidly reloading made him even prouder. Their training had been well received, and now the proof was in the pudding. After reloading, the five Hawkens barked again in ragged succession. Once again, five cow buffalo struggled with the last of their lives.
    Now the herd was getting nervous. But, sensing no danger from the small puffs of white smoke on the ridgeline and the noise of rifles being fired, the animals more or less held their ground. Boom— boom—boom—boom—boom, and five more cows dropped to roam the plains no more. With that, the herd began to nervously drift off to the west, only to run into fifteen mounted Indian riders charging out from the line of willows. The chase was on! The crack of the riders’ rifles in the cold winter air put the herd into a full stampede back in the direction from whence it had come.
    Seeing the danger while quickly reloading, Harlan and the boys hurriedly moved together as the buffalo roared up the little hill toward them. Their Hawkens barked once again, staggering and then killing three buffalo in front of the charging herd. Harlan then stood up so the stampeding animals could see him and calmly shot the herd leader with his first reserve Hawken. Grabbing his remaining Hawken, Harlan dropped another buffalo, which skidded over the snow-covered earth and came to rest not thirty feet before him.
    The inert form looming so large in front of the stampede split the leaders. The boys stood up with their quickly reloaded Hawkens and dropped two more from the herd, turning the animals away from the hilltop on which they now stood, helpless with empty rifles.
    The buffalo thundered down off the hill, right into the rest of the mounted warriors on the other side, and the slaughter was complete. Reloading