Chapter 409

Just like that, the group drove the sleds and chased until noon.

Even if the group wasn't hungry or tired, they had to stop to rest.

Because Wang An discovered that at this time, the big stallion was steaming all over.

Consequently, Wang An said to the people on the sled:

"We have to eat and rest for a while; this horse has been running with the sled all morning, and its body can't take it."

Wu Dong looked at the horse and exclaimed:

"Mm, this horse of yours is really quite vicious; it hasn't stopped all morning."

Wang An answered casually: "Mm, no matter how vicious, it still has to rest for a while."

As Wang An spoke, he brought the big stallion to a stop.

Seeing Wang An's action, Mu Xueli and Wang Li, who were following behind, drove their sleds to a position parallel to Wang An and stopped their horses too.

Only seeing Mu Xueli full of heartache, but smiling, said:

"Brother-in-law, you finally stopped; if we run for a while longer, my horse will be exhausted to death."

Wang Li also said in a low voice full of heartache:

"Mm, Fourth Brother, how about we don't run like this in the afternoon? If we ruin the horse, you say how uneconomical it is, right?"

Although the two of them were speaking with a smiling and discussing tone, the four words "I am complaining" were almost written directly on their faces.

Wang An, after listening, felt quite embarrassed.

So he said: "Mm, we won't run like this in the future."

Running until now, even the big stallion with plenty of stamina was already sweating all over.

And Mu Xueli's green horse and Wang Li's white horse were not only sweating all over but their breathing sounds were quite loud.

In addition, these two horses had been snorting.

If they continued to run like this, it would be hard to say if they could find the tiger, but the horses would definitely be ruined.

After the group stopped, Wu Dong and the six people including Zhang Shuya started picking up firewood and lighting a fire to heat dry rations.

And Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li started wiping the horses' sweat.

Although the season was quite warm now, it was only relative.

During the day, the normal temperature was around minus ten degrees, and at night, it was almost minus 20 degrees.

Therefore, if they couldn't wipe the sweat off the horses in time, the horses would inevitably freeze.

If the horses froze, they would likely get sick nine times out of ten.

In this era, if people got sick, they basically relied on hard endurance, and if livestock got sick, there was naturally no medicine to use.

Actually, in this regard, horses weren't as sturdy as mules.

Perhaps because mules were hybrid products, mules were much more resistant to being mistreated.

Compared to mules, horses were indeed a bit delicate.

After the three of them wiped the horses' sweat clean, they unhitched the horses from the sleds and led them to the campfire to warm them up.

In the countryside, whether raising mules, horses, donkeys, or cows, it was all very careful.

Mainly, these few types of livestock were basically a family's livelihood guarantee.

Plowing, planting, weeding, ridging, hauling crops, grinding, milling, hauling sleds or carts...

Weeding was done with a weeding hoe.

Weeding crops, ridging was using a plow to mound soil for crops.

Anyway, as long as there was work to do, these livestock were basically indispensable.

So, if you don't treat them well, can that work?

Letting the three horses warm up by the campfire for more than ten minutes, hearing their breathing even out and them not snorting anymore, only then did Wang An and the others feed the horses forage.

However, horses, when too tired, wouldn't eat forage at all, so they had to wait until they were rested enough.

After the three of them finished serving the three horses, Wu Dong and the six people including Zhang Shuya had also heated the dry rations and canned meat. After a simple lunch, the group sat around the campfire, chatting and bragging while drinking hot water.

Fortunately, the three horses were already eating forage, but even so, the group had to wait at least an hour and a half to two hours.

Because horses were animals that couldn't get full without an hour or two.

Actually, horses were very magical animals.

That is, if you put a horse in a place with plenty of forage, the horse will keep eating, and it will eat while defecating.

Someone once did an experiment.

In the summer, during the day, they cut a full cart of green grass for the horse, and then at night, they tied the horse to the wheel of the cart to let it eat grass.

The next morning, this person discovered that the full cart of green grass had been eaten up, but the horse's belly was flat.

Of course, the horse manure behind the horse's butt was also piled up in several large baskets.

In the countryside, a large basket was the biggest basket, with a diameter of at least 1 meter, much larger than the largest laundry basin.

And the reason for this, it is said, is that horses are straight-gut animals; only straight-gut animals can eat while defecating.

Two hours later, feeling that the horses had eaten enough, the group extinguished the fire and continued to drive the sleds to track.

To tell the truth, this endless tracking and chasing was the most boring thing.

Because you never know when you will catch up.

By rights, this tiger was injured, so it shouldn't have been able to run this far.

But the fact was that this tiger was like nothing happened, and it didn't delay its running at all.

And the bloodstains were completely gone.

Until the group chased to the edge of a large ditch, the group was completely dumbfounded.

Because the large ditch wasn't narrow, about 20 meters or so, but the tiger just jumped over it directly.

At this time, the tiger's footprints were very clear; this side was very clear, and the footprints on the opposite side could also be seen.

Only seeing Wang Shuai looking at the footprints on both sides of the ditch in shock, he exclaimed:

"Damn, these big claws are really awesome; such a long distance, and it jumped over in one leap!"

At this time, Wu Dong said:

"If I run and jump, I can jump seven or eight meters; for the big claws to jump more than 20 meters, isn't that normal?"

Wang Shuai scratched his head and said:

"That's true; my personal best seems to be seven point seven."

Wang An said with a smile: "I can't jump as far as you."

Hearing Wang An's words, Wu Dong asked in surprise:

"Then with your height, how far can you jump?"

Wang An immediately said "very shyly" and "embarrassedly": "I only jump 8 meters."

Only seeing Wu Dong stunned for a moment, but immediately reacted, rolled his eyes fiercely at Wang An, and then said crossly:

"Damn, I shouldn't have asked; you really can brag."

"Hahahaha."

The group laughed out loud.

Talking is talking, joking is joking, but even though the bragging was loud, the group still couldn't get across.

In this situation, ordinary people probably couldn't get across.

And since they couldn't get across, the group could only choose to take a detour.

There were many such large ditches in the mountains, and under normal circumstances, the further down the mountain, the shallower the ditch, until the ditch disappeared completely.

Consequently, the group drove the sleds along the edge of the ditch.

Everyone thought that the ditch would soon disappear.

However, everyone's thought was wrong!

(End of chapter)