310 Old Ephraim. 



the ground. Beneath these trees we walked over a carpet 

 of pine needles, upon which our moccasined feet made no 

 sound. The woods seemed vast and lonely, and their 

 silence was broken now and then by the strange noises 

 always to be heard in the great forests, and which seem 

 to mark the sad and everlasting unrest of the wilderness. 

 We climbed up along the trunk of a dead tree which had 

 toppled over until its upper branches struck in the limb 

 crotch of another, that thus supported it at an angle half- 

 way in its fall. When above the ground far enough to 

 prevent the bear's smelling us, we sat still to wait for his 

 approach ; until, in the gathering gloom, we could no 

 longer see the sights of our rifles, and could but dimly 

 make out the carcass of the great elk. It was useless to 

 wait longer ; and we clambered down and stole out to the 

 edge of the woods. The forest here covered one side of 

 a steep, almost canyon-like ravine, whose other side was 

 bare except of rock and sage-brush. Once out from 

 under the trees there was still plenty of light, although 

 the sun had set, and we crossed over some fifty yards to 

 the opposite hill-side, and crouched down under a bush to 

 see if perchance some animal might not also leave the 

 cover. To our right the ravine sloped downward toward 

 the valley of the Bighorn River, and far on its other side 

 we could catch a glimpse of the great main chain of the 

 Rockies, their snow peaks glinting crimson in the light of 

 the set sun. Again we waited quietly in the growing 

 dusk until the pine trees in our front blended into one 

 dark, frowning mass. We saw nothing ; but the wild 

 creatures of the forest had begun to stir abroad. The 



