ii 4 A SPORTSMAN'S EDEN. 



lordly beast, so heavy with good feeding that we 

 wondered to see him clear the great logs in his 

 way. Once, when stalking a band of bighorn 

 rams, he rose quietly from his lair in front of us, 

 and we could see his fat sides shake as he trotted 

 away. But he did not disturb the rams, so we 

 let him go. At last his time came. Meat was 

 wanted in camp, and we were going to shoot a 

 distant hill-top. When the even chop, chop of 

 the old man's axe awoke me, the country was 

 wrapped in a gray, smoky mist which hung about 

 all day, and the trees were silvered with frost. 

 S. was working hard, but complaining bitterly, 

 according to his wont, as he explained to the boy 

 that the stars had left the sky, and the boss 

 would soon want his breakfast. Then there was 

 a short mental struggle with the desire to remain 

 curled up in one's blankets, whilst the growing 

 fire warmed and lit the inside of the tent a 

 struggle soon over, and followed by an heroic 

 wash almost deserving of the dignity of a ' tub.' 

 The bottle of sweet-oil for the rifles which stood 

 by my bedside had frozen hard in the night, and 

 a pack of wolves, whose howlings we had heard, 

 had stampeded our horses. By the tracks they 

 must have driven the poor beasts almost through 

 the camp-fire, whither they had come for succour ; 

 but the night was too dark for the Indian to see 



