222 CAMP-FIRES OF A NATURALIST. 



got my supper I made a sneak and came over here 

 and let her do the choppin'." 



"Did you ever see a spike-horn buck?" asked Mc- 

 Laughlin. 



" Yes ; I killed a Virginia deer in New Mexico with 

 his first horns. They were about six inches long and 

 were single. The first horns of a deer are usually 

 forked. Spike-horns are very rare." 



"Do does ever have horns?" asked Farrell. 



McLaughlin answered this by saying that he had 

 seen one doe, in his twenty-five years' experience, 

 which had horns. Dyche told of a skull with small 

 horns that he had seen in Denver which had been 

 represented to be that of a doe. The eyes of the men 

 began to grow heavy now, and Armstrong went home, 

 and the others were soon wrapped in their blankets 

 listening to the music of the wolves and the wind in 

 the pines. 



The horses were rounded up with great difficulty 

 next morning, for the animals had had a long rest 

 with plenty of food and were full of life. Three 

 days' hard travelling carried the party down the val- 

 ley and over the range to Loomis' ranch, where Dyche 

 found twelve letters. The last freight wagons of the 

 season were on the point of starting for the railroad, 

 two hundred miles away, and the naturalist made 

 arrangements to have his specimens taken along. 

 Maurice and McLaughlin helped him to the last min- 

 ute, and the parting from them was like the separa- 

 tion of old friends. The acquaintance had been but 

 of a month and a half's duration, but the camp-life 

 had shown the strong qualities of both men. The 



