THE BEAR "MONAECH." 173 



the march over the mountains was hard on 

 men and horses, and the pace was neces 

 sarily slow. 



The heat coaxed the rattlesnakes out of 

 their holes, and the angry hum of their 

 rattles was an almost incessant accompan 

 iment to the hoof beats of the horses. 

 Where the trail wound along a steep slope, 

 affording but slight foothold for an animal, 

 a more than unusually strenuous and in 

 sistent singing of a snake, disturbed from 

 his sunny siesta, caused Balaam to jump 

 aside. Balaam avoided the snake, but he 

 lost his balance and rolled down the slope, 

 heels in the air and pack underneath. The 

 acrobatic feats achieved by Balaam in his 

 struggles to regain his footing were 

 watched by an admiring and solicitous au 

 dience, and when he cleverly took advant 

 age of the slight obstruction offered by a 

 manzanita bush, and got safely upon his 

 feet, he was loudly applauded. The deep 

 solicitude of the party for the safety of 

 Balaam and his pack was accounted for 



12 



