Civilization in the Wilderness
A Tale of Adventure on the American Frontier
Read Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-One, and Twenty-Two.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The weather grew warmer as they moved east. They were in the flatter lands now, in the heart of that great continent. Their journey moved quickly, and each day they managed twenty or thirty miles. With the longer days, they could spend more of it on their feet. Even Robert didn't want to stop and tarry long when they broke midday for meals. His legs were used to the toil by this time and his feet no longer blistered. He'd traded what little money he'd brought with him for new shoes from the white men on the coast, and now his heels didn't grow as sore as they used to do.
The first month had been rough on him. He had lost fitness over the winter and he felt oddly weak in the mountains. But the daily pack-carrying had given new strength to his back and his legs. Sagamore had set a hard pace in the mountains - he'd said he was restless from the months spent in one place and eager to be back on his feet. Now, neither Robert nor Daniel felt any trouble with the pace, and the miles fell away beneath them.
With plentiful game and no shortage of ammunition ever since they’d replenished their stores, the three men had no trouble hunting. They often didn't stop to hunt. Instead, keeping their rifles loaded and slung in easy reach, they would shoot an elk or a deer or a fowl when they happened upon one while walking. Such opportunities presented themselves frequently. In this way, they kept their packs full of meat, which they smoked or roasted in the evenings, and they had no great hunger or privation.
It was on one fine spring morning with summertime approaching, just after they had paused for a few minutes to eat some smoked venison that they heard a gunshot from behind. Robert's canteen exploded.