WHOLESALE HUNTERS. 129 



began casting their flies over the stream. After 

 whipping the water for an hour or more they gave it 

 up in disgust and returned empty-handed to camp. 

 It was afterwards learned that Mac had not broken 

 his record, for there was not a trout in the stream, 

 and furthermore there never had been, for a series of 

 high falls some distance below prevented the fish 

 from coming up stream. 



Several deer were seen during the afternoon, and 

 just as evening was coming on the smoke of a camp- 

 fire was espied, which proved to come from the camp 

 of two deer-hunters. The two men who sat by the 

 fire eyed the new-comers with suspicion, and in re- 

 sponse to inquiries said they were prospectors ; but 

 the piles of deer and sheep skins which lay about the 

 camp made it evident that they were skin-hunters, 

 and were in the mountains ruthlessly slaughtering 

 the game for the paltry sum to be had for the hide. 

 It was afterwards learned that these two men killed 

 over two hundred deer during that summer, selling 

 the skins for seventy -five cents each and leaving the 

 dead carcasses lying just where they had fallen. The 

 head-hunters, against whom such a wave of indig- 

 nation has spread over the country, are bad enough, 

 but they are usually satisfied with two or three ani- 

 mals, while the skin-hunters indiscriminately slaugh- 

 ter the animals by the hundreds and soon drive them 

 out of the country. 



The skin-hunters were full of advice when they 

 learned that the party was after sheep. 



" You may see some of them on the highest peaks 

 if you keep your eyes skinned," said the man with 



