THE FRONTIER ONCE MORE 209 



fact, save a fox track or two, a few rabbit 

 tracks, and now and again a squirrel. This 

 disappointed me, for there are deer here, and 

 the lumbermen told me I should in all proba- 

 bility see some of them, or at least their signs, 

 in the fresh snow. Bear, too, were said to be 

 fairly numerous, and I had hoped to see a track, 

 for they were still abroad. 



Beyond the ridge somewhere in a valley was 

 the little settlement of Woodruff, and with 

 neither compass nor definite trail to guide me, 

 I took the general course in which my map — 

 a very imperfect map, I had discovered — said 

 Woodruff lay, avoiding, as best I could, gulches 

 and canons. Now and again magnificent views 

 of the snow-clad country to the northward op- 

 ened before me — timbered areas, wide stretches 

 of valley and plain, and lofty mountain peaks. 



In mid-afternoon I crossed a wind-swept 

 reach of the open country and then began a 

 gradual descent. Presently the snow was left be- 

 hind, to the relief of myself and the horses. 

 Here, as we dropped into the head of a narrow, 

 rugged canon, several prairie chickens were 

 started. Following the canon to its mouth, I 

 passed an abandoned ranch, on the banks of a 

 brook which coursed down a narrow valley 

 into which the canon opened, and near sunset 



