A SPORTSMAN'S EDEN. 



but it would not do here. ' Where were we 

 going to shoot next day ?' Thinking at least he 

 would, if we told him, avoid our beat, I suggested 

 the top ground. ' Ah ! that's just where we 

 are going,' and C.'s face simply rippled with 

 laughter. If anyone ever enjoyed ' pulling 

 another man's leg,' C. enjoyed that luxury on the 

 first night we met. My Scotch friends smoked 

 in silence. There appeared to be no precedents 

 for a case of this kind, and no one could quarrel 

 with a man so full of innocent mirth, and abso- 

 lutely unconscious of the enormity of his offence. 

 ' Look here !' suggested C. ; ' I've promised 

 these gentlemen that they shall get sheep, and 

 they shall. What do you say to our making a 

 drive all together ? You have not done much good 

 so far, and if the sheep are there, as you say 

 they are, we are bound to get some, if we send 

 our Indians round to drive.' I did not like the 

 idea, but it was the only thing to do ; so I con- 

 sented, fully determined that after the drive the 

 great gathering of sportsmen at Bighorn Camp 

 should be less by one. Of that drive I'll tell 

 you in my next letter, if I ever survive to write 

 another ; and I candidly confess that the idea of 

 all these riflemen together, round the topmost 

 crag, with a frightened ram dodging from one to 

 the other, is to my mind suggestive of more risk 



