LETTER XII. 137 



that that beast has seen your camp, and will be 

 peculiarly wide awake all day. So we finished 

 our breakfast and rode our long-suffering ponies 

 along the first bluffs which led up to the heights 

 on which we expected to find our game. But 

 even these first bluffs were so steep that the 

 ponies lowered their wise heads to inspect every 

 stone on which they trod, and even then slipped 

 so badly on the steep sidling hill, that for fear 

 lest we should be precipitated horse and man into 

 the foaming mountain-torrent, whose course the 

 yellow aspens marked below, we very soon 

 picketed our steeds and walked. ' Lunch, tyee ?' 

 questioned Toma ; but the ' tyee ' (i.e., chief) did 

 not like the look of the steep sugar-loaf above 

 him, and wisely decided to put the lunch in his 

 pocket to be eaten (if at all) at the top. Thigh- 

 deep we waded through the swirling waters of 

 the burn, and then began to work our way in a 

 steep zigzag uphill. Toma was in splendid form, 

 and his pace undeniable. I knew I had only this 

 one day left to kill my goat in, so that I dare 

 not remonstrate ; but I prayed earnestly that 

 Toma might slip or drop something, if only to 

 gain a moment's breathing-space. Thrice only 

 the little man paused in that heart-breaking 

 climb, and then it was on some vantage-point 

 from which he expected an extended view of the 



