276 Still-Hunting Elk. 



old plainsman, who possessed a most extraordinary stock 

 of miscellaneous misinformation upon every conceivable 

 subject, and the other my ranch foreman, Merrifield. None 

 of us had ever been within two hundred miles of the Big- 

 horn range before ; so that our hunting trip had the added 

 zest of being also an exploring expedition. 



Each of us rode one pony, and the packs were carried 

 on four others. We were not burdened by much baggage. 

 Having no tent we took the canvas wagon sheet instead ; 

 our bedding, plenty of spare cartridges, some flour, bacon, 

 coffee, sugar and salt, and a few very primitive cooking 

 utensils, completed the outfit. 



The Bighorn range is a chain of bare, rocky peaks 

 stretching lengthwise along the middle of a table-land 

 which is about thirty miles wide. At its edges this table- 

 land falls sheer off into the rolling plains country. From 

 the rocky peaks flow rapid brooks of clear, icy water, 

 which take their way through deep gorges that they have 

 channelled out in the surface of the plateau ; a few miles 

 from the heads of the streams these gorges become regular 

 canyons, with sides so steep as to be almost perpendicu- 

 lar ; in travelling, therefore, the trail has to keep well up 

 toward timber line, as lower down horses find it difficult 

 or impossible to get across the valleys. In strong contrast 

 to the treeless cattle plains extending to its foot, the sides 

 of the table-land are densely wooded with tall pines. Its 

 top forms what is called a park country ; that is, it is 

 covered with alternating groves of trees and open glades, 

 each grove or glade varying in size from half a dozen to 

 many hundred acres. 



