"Here, let us take him in," offered Ned, reaching for one end of the carrying stick.

Butler shook his head.

"I said I was going to get him to camp alone and I shall."

"But--" protested Ned.

"Oh, let him carry the beast if he wants to. Tad likes to work," laughed the fat boy.

"Which is a heap sight more than may be said of some persons we know of," returned Ned.

Tad dragged the carca.s.s into camp, casting it down a short distance from the tents.

"Him heap big little man," reiterated the Indian.

"How much does the animal weigh?" asked the Professor.

"A good ton, I should say," replied Tad, sinking down by the fire. "I'm all tuckered out."

"You had better get on some dry clothes."

"These will dry in a few minutes by the fire," was the philosophical reply.

"Yes, that's right," bubbled Stacy. "When one side gets dry I'll pry you over with the stick on which you brought in the carca.s.s. You can't say I don't do my share of the work in this outfit."

"I think I prefer to do my own rolling. I don't dare trust you," laughed Tad.

"That's it, you see. When I try to do anything you won't let me."

"Perhaps Anvik will show you how to skin and cut up the antelope."

"I don't want to know how to skin an antelope. We don't have that kind at home, so what's the use knowing about it? I know how to 'skin the cat,' and that's enough," Chunky declared.

Anvik deftly strung up the carca.s.s and in half an hour had it neatly dressed, the boys watching the operation with interest.

"Heap much good meat," he nodded.

"Yes, heap," admitted Stacy solemnly. "What are you going to do with it all?"

"Eat um."

"All of it?"

"Some of um. Mebby wolf eat um rest. Mebby bear eat um."

"Mebby they don't. Mebby Stacy Brown will eat um if there is any left when my hungry friends get through with it to-morrow," jeered the fat boy. "I'll have mine rare, if you please."

"Huh!" grunted Anvik with the suspicion of a grin on his usually stolid countenance.

CHAPTER XIV

STACY b.u.mPS THE b.u.mPS

One by one the travelers were hauling the ponies up a steep mountain, over which their course lay, four days after Tad had brought in the antelope. They had eaten their fill of the meat, hiding the rest in case they should by any chance come that way again.

The going had been worse than before. It could not have been tougher for either man or beast. The mountain side up which they were struggling was rough and rugged. A short distance to the right of them the quartz rock was as smooth as polished marble save for a hummock here and there, some of the latter smooth, others rough. Neither Pony Rider Boy nor pony could have held his footing there for an instant.

After two hours' toil they got the last of the stock up, which in this case was the pack mule. Ned pulled on the rope while Tad and Anvik pushed. They were safe in doing so, for the mule could not kick without going down altogether. Furthermore, it was as anxious as its helpers to get to the top and have the disagreeable job over with. The result was that all hands were pretty well f.a.gged out by the time they got to a level s.p.a.ce from which their way led around the base of the higher mountain.

"Now, Stacy, you haven't done much except to give us the benefit of your advice, so take the mule over yonder and tether him where he can browse," directed Butler. "Walter, did you tether the others?"

"I did."

"Come on, you lazy mule. I'm not going to tote you. You'll tote yourself if you want a feed," growled Stacy, taking hold of the lead rope and slouching off to the right. The bushes where they had placed the ponies were about ten rods to the northward of the point at which the party had landed. Stacy was apparently trying to see how near he could walk to the edge without himself or the mule slipping down that gla.s.sy side of granite-like rocks.

"Come along, you lazy cayuse," he yelled, giving the lead line a series of tugs. It was like pulling on a dead weight, the pack mule being too weary to hasten its lagging footsteps. Chunky turned around and taking firm grip on the rope with both hands began to pull with all his might.

The mule braced himself. He resented this sort of treatment.

The halter suddenly slipped over the animal's head, and the pack mule sat down heavily. So did the fat boy. Unfortunately for the mule it sat down with its haunches slightly over the edge of the slope, and down it went over the slippery surface.

"There goes the other mule!" yelled Walter Perkins.

"Fat boy him go, too," grunted Anvik.

They had failed to observe Stacy. What they were most interested in was the sight of their pack mule sliding down the slope backwards in a sitting posture. Alarmed as they were to see their stores disappearing, the ludicrousness of the sight interested them. The mule came in contact with one of the high places--a rocky b.u.mp, which bounced him up into the air and turned him completely around. Down to the next obstruction the animal traveled, princ.i.p.ally on its nose.

Stacy Brown was only a few seconds behind the mule. The two had sat down facing each other. The mule being the heavier had gone first and, when once under way, his momentum carried him along with greater force and speed.

With a wild yell, the fat boy, sprawling and struggling to catch hold of something to stop his progress, began the descent. Below him he could hear the rattle of tin cans, for the pack had broken open. It was raining canned goods down there, but Stacy was not particularly interested in this phase of the situation. He hit the b.u.mp over which the pack mule had leaped, was hurled up into the air, where he did a dizzy spin, then sat down with a force that for the instant knocked all the breath out of him, and once more he shot towards the bottom.

"They'll both be killed!" cried the Professor in great alarm.

Tad, comprehending the scene in a twinkling, started on a run. Choosing a point where there were no b.u.mps in the way, he crept over and, sitting on his feet, supported on each side by his hands, began a downward shoot. But the freckle-faced boy did not long maintain that position. A few seconds after starting he was flat on his back, going down feet first at a speed that fairly took his breath away.

Ere he was half-way down, the mule had reached the end of its journey at the bottom of the slope. Then Stacy Brown came along, but not much more gracefully than the mule, and landed feet first on the animal. What the slide and the b.u.mps had failed to do for the unfortunate beast, Stacy Brown did. He was a human projectile and the mule, that had got to its fore feet, promptly lay down again under the impact. Chunky did a graceful dive over the body of his prostrate enemy, landing on his shoulders in a thicket.

"Stacy! Stacy!" yelled Tad as he reached the end of his own slide and got to his feet. Tad had not been in the least injured by the fall.

"Stacy!"

"What do you want?"

"Are you hurt?"

"No."