LETTER XL 129 



2 inches. The bighorns of the Cascades appear 

 to me to differ in one point somewhat from the 

 bighorn of Montana, these latter having their 

 horns curled closer, and lying much flatter against 

 their heads than is the fashion with their Cascade 

 cousins. 



That night was a night of fete in my lonely 

 camp, and ' the gunner ' made what he called a 

 ' north-west fire,' on which whole trees lay and 

 flared out in the mountain - wind ; but when 

 morning broke the fire was hidden in snow ; 

 what Toma called ' smoke ' wrapped everything 

 in its heavy folds, so that nothing was visible to 

 us fifty yards from our tents ; the little pine- 

 trees were bowed down with the weight of the 

 snowflakes ; two of our pack-animals could not 

 be found, and when we lit our camp-fire again, 

 the rest of the poor beasts came and stood round 

 it, with their heads down and their tails to the 

 wind. All day the air was thick w T ith winter's 

 swarming white bees, and all day we sat cowering 

 idly in our wet snow-piled tents. Poor Toma 

 looked so pitiable in his one blue canvas shirt 

 that I had to give him one of my own flannel 

 garments, whose somewhat gaudy colouring had 

 won his simple heart. 



One more backward glance at the best sheep- 

 country I ever saw, and I will smother my sighs 



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