Htuiting ill the Selkirks. 145 



him along, and he gradually grew sulky. For some time 

 we could not find out the reason ; but finally he gave us 

 to understand that he was afraid because up in the high 

 mountains there were "little bad Indians" who would 

 kill him if they caught him alone, especially at night. At 

 first we thought he was speaking of stray warriors of the 

 Blackfeet tribe ; but it turned out that he was not thinking 

 of human beings at all, but of hobgoblins. 



Indeed the night sounds of these great stretches of 

 mountain woodland were very weird and strange. Though 

 I have often and for long periods dwelt and hunted in the 

 wilderness, yet I never before so well understood why 

 the people who live in lonely forest regions are prone to 

 believe in elves, wood spirits, and other beings of an 

 unseen world. Our last camp, whereat we spent several 

 days, was pitched in a deep valley nearly at the head of 

 the stream. Our brush shelter stood among the tall 

 coniferous trees that covered the valley bottom ; but the 

 altitude was so great that the forest extended only a very 

 short distance up the steep mountain slopes. Beyond, 

 on either hand, rose walls of gray rock, with snow beds in 

 their rifts, and, high above, toward the snow peaks, the 

 great white fields dazzled the eyes. The torrent foamed 

 swiftly by but a short distance below the mossy level 

 space on which we had built our slight w^eather-shield of 

 pine boughs ; other streams poured into it, from ravines 

 through which they leaped down the mountain sides. 



After nightfall, round the camp fire, or if I awakened 

 after sleeping a little while, I would often lie silently for 

 many minutes together, listening to the noises of the 



