In the woods a horse with a broken leg is little better than dead, and in mercy is usually put out of its misery.
We knew that the four horses lying there were very seriously injured, and Asa thought that we ought to put an end to their sufferings.

But Addison and I could not bring ourselves to kill them, and we went to ask Tommy's advice.
The old man was pottering about the scoot, trying to recover his traps and gun.

He hobbled down to the brink of the chasm and peered over at the disabled animals; but "I vum, I dunno," was all that we could get from him in the way of advice.
At last we brought the horse blankets from the scoot and put them over the suffering creatures to protect them from the storm.

In their efforts to get up, however, the animals thrashed about constantly, and the blankets did not shelter them much.

We had no idea where the horses were that had run away.
At last, about midnight, we set off afoot up the trail to the nearest lumber camp.