Hunting in Many Lands 



ing breakfast, and just as the first level sun- 

 beams struck the top of the plateau, we saw on 

 this cliff crest something moving, and at first 

 supposed it to be one of the horses which had 

 broken loose from its picket pin. Soon the 

 thing, whatever it was, raised its head, and we 

 were all on our feet in a moment, exclaimine 

 that it was a deer or a sheep. It was feeding 

 in plain sight of us only about a third of a 

 mile distant, and the horses, as I afterward 

 found, were but a few rods beyond it on the 

 plateau. The instant I realized that it was 

 game of some kind I seized my rifle, buckled 

 on my cartridge belt, and slunk off toward the 

 river bed. As soon as I was under the pro- 

 tection of the line of cottonwoods, I trotted 

 briskly toward the cliff, and when I got to 

 where it impinged on the river I ran a little 

 to the left, and, selecting what I deemed to be 

 a favorable place, began to make the ascent. 

 The animal was on the grassy bench, some 

 eight or ten feet below the crest, when I last 

 saw it; but it was evidently moving hither and 

 thither, sometimes on this bench and some- 

 times on the crest itself, cropping the short 

 grass and browsing on the young shrubs. 

 The cliff was divided by several shoulders 



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