Still-Hunting Elk on the Mountain 309 



it sleeted, snowed, and rained from dawn till night 

 fall. We passed this day very comfortably, how 

 ever. I had far too much forethought to go into 

 the woods without a small supply of books for just 

 such occasions. We had rigged the canvas wagon 

 sheet into a tent, at the bottom of the ravine, near 

 the willow-covered brink of the brook that ran 

 through it. The steep hill-sides bounding the val 

 ley, which a little below us became sheer cliffs, were 

 partly covered with great pines and spruces, and 

 partly open ground grown up with tall grass and 

 sage-brush. We were thus well sheltered from the 

 wind ; and when one morning we looked out and saw 

 the wet snow lying on the ground, and with its 

 weight bending down the willow bushes and loading 

 the tall evergreens, while the freezing sleet rattled 

 against the canvas, we simply started a roaring fire 

 of pine logs in front of the tent, and passed a cosy 

 day inside, cleaning guns, reading, and playing 

 cards. Blue grouse, elk hams, and deer saddles 

 hung from the trees around, so we had no fear of 

 starvation. Still, toward evening we got a little 

 tired, and I could not resist taking a couple of 

 hours brisk ride in the mist, through a chain of open 

 glades that sloped off from our camp. 



Later on we made a camp at the head of a great 

 natural meadow, where two streams joined to 

 gether, and in times long gone by had been dammed 

 by the beaver. This had at first choked up the 

 passage and made a small lake; then dams were 

 built higher and higher up, making chains of little 



