After Wapiti in Wyoming 
trails, mud-wallows, slivered trees, and many 
other evidences that large bands of elk had 
occupied the country for months; and my 
packer insisted that we would surely find 
them if we continued hunting in the rough 
mountains which lay to the east. 
Early the next day, while at the brook mak- 
ing my morning toilet, 1 heard Stewart say 
to the cook that the horses had gone out of 
the country; and after two minutes of very 
vehement remarks, he informed me that five 
horses had taken the back trail, and that 
Worth must go with him to head them off. 
So, each taking a horse, they rode away, leav- 
ing me to keep camp with only old Scoop 
Shovel, a split-eared packhorse, for company. 
Always having loved nature, I concluded 
that a little prospecting on my own hook 
would be preferable to lounging about camp 
waiting for the return of the men and 
horses; so, saddling old Scoop Shovel, I 
forded the brook and, crossing the scene of 
my bad shooting the previous evening, 
climbed a small range of hills. On the op- 
posite side I found a good-sized stream, 
which I thought was the main Coulter Creek. 
143 
