32 The Black Bear 



The horse on which Ben had been mounted for the 

 day was called Riley, and, as I have already said, we 

 had selected him for his steady-going qualities and his 

 reliability in leading. But just as we reached a par- 

 ticularly steep place about half-way up the mountain, 

 Riley suddenly stopped and threw his weight back on 

 the lead rope, which was lapped around the horn of my 

 riding saddle, in such a way that the rope parted, the 

 horse lost his balance, and falling backward landed, all 

 four feet in the air, in a hole that had been left by an 

 upturned root. We at once tied up the rest of the 

 horses to prevent them from straying, and, cutting 

 the cinch rope to Riley's pack, rolled him over and got 

 him to his feet again. We then led him to as level a 

 spot as we could find and once more cinched on the 

 saddle, and, while Spencer brought the various articles 

 that made up the pack, I repacked the horse. All this 

 time nobody had thought of Ben. In the excitement 

 of rescuing the fallen horse he had been completely 

 forgotten, and when Spencer lifted the pack cover, 

 which was the last article of the reversed pack, he called 

 out in consternation, ''Here's Ben, smashed as flat as a 

 shingle." When we rushed to examine him we found 

 that he still breathed, but that was about all ; and after 

 I got the horse packed I wrapped him in my coat, 

 placed him in a sack, and hanging this to the horn of 

 my riding saddle, proceeded up the hill. 



In the course of a couple of hours we reached an- 



