THE BISON OR AMERICAN BUFFALO. 31 



places free from undergrowth and down tim- 

 ber. As in most Rocky Mountain forests the 

 timber was small, not only as compared to the 

 giant trees of the groves of the Pacific coast, 

 but as compared to the forests of the northeast. 

 The ground was covered with pine needles 

 and soft moss, so that it was not difficult to 

 walk noiselessly. Once or twice when I trod 

 on a small dry twig, or let the nails in my 

 shoes clink slightly against a stone, the hunter 

 turned to me with a frown of angry impatience ; 

 but as he walked slowly, continually halting to 

 look ahead, as well as stooping over to examine 

 the trail, I did not find it very difficult to move 

 silently. I kept a little behind him, and to one 

 side, save when he crouched to take advantage 

 of some piece of cover, and I crept in his foot- 

 steps. I did not look at the trail at all, but 

 kept watching ahead, hoping at any moment to 

 see the game. 



It was not very long before we struck their 

 day beds, which were made on a knoll, where 

 the forest was open and where there was much 

 down timber. After leaving the day beds the 

 animals had at first fed separately around the 

 grassy base and sides of the knoll, and had 

 then made off in their usual single file, going 

 straight to a small pool in the forest. After 

 drinking they had left this pool, and travelled 

 down towards the gorge at the mouth of the 

 basin, the trail leading along the sides of the 

 steep hill, which were dotted by open glades ; 

 while the roar of the cataracts by which the 

 stream was broken ascended from below. 



