Travelling in the Western Hunting Grounds. 1 1 



only could they be found in paying numbers. You enjoyed the 

 good fellowship of thoroughly trustworthy men, and while they did 

 their trapping or wolf-poisoning, you. who were tacitly considered 

 the " boss," or master, and were also addressed as such, could roam 

 about at your own free will, gradually extending your side expedi- 

 tions as you became versed in woodcraft. Of course, for the newly 

 arrived " tenderfoot " this roaming about, and not losing himself or 

 getting into other more awkward dilemmas, necessitated some 

 preliminary experience in woodcraft. But this, under the tuition 

 of capable trapper-masters, if one had previous training in other 

 parts of the world, was soon acquired ; and, when once mastered, 

 the pleasure of knowing oneself perfectly independent vastly 

 enhanced the charm of life in the woods and in the mountains. 



It was not every sportsman fresh from the East or from Europe 

 who had either the time, opportunity, or desire to hunt for men of 

 this stamp. The Union Pacific landed him at Rawlins, Greenriver 

 City, or Ogden ; and while in his innermost soul he felt defrauded 

 by not finding dead men festooning the nearest trees or telegraph 

 poles, he expected to fall into the arms of a revised edition of a 

 Bridger, Kit Carson, or old Joe Clark. At the first glance, perhaps, 

 his disappointment on this score was not so great ; for the modern 

 representatives of those old scouts of classic renown who forthwith 

 interviewed him in front of the hotel bar were got up in embroidered 

 buckskin suits, broad sombreros, cartridge belts, and at least one 

 large-size six-shooter at the waist. Their hair was long, and their 

 name some startling imitation of " Buffalo Bill " or " Wild Will," 

 and they claimed to be old Indian fighters, who know the whole 

 West as they know their pockets. 



I can, alas ! speak from experience of the wiles and of the traps 

 that waylaid the newly-arrived sportsman ; for I was as verdantly 

 " fresh " as are most strangers, be they bent upon business or 

 pleasure, when first striking the West. Hence I fell an easy prey 

 to certain " Bearclaw Joes" and "Scalp Jacks." "Trundling 

 tenderfeet outfits through the country " was, in the seventies and 

 early eighties, a favourite occupation for " ne'er-do-well loafers." 



