In Cowboy Land 289 



beaver. The pass had an evil reputation be- 

 cause the year before a solitary hunter who 

 had wandered into it was there slain, seem- 

 ingly by a wild beast, the half-eaten remains 

 being afterward found by some mining pro- 

 spectors who had passed his camp only the 

 night before. 



The memory of this event, however, 

 weighed very lightly with the two trap- 

 pers, who were as adventurous and hardy as 

 others of their kind. They took their two 

 lean mountain ponies to the foot of the pass, 

 where they left them in an open beaver 

 meadow, the rocky timber-clad ground being 

 from thence onward impracticable for hprses. 

 They then struck out on foot through the vast, 

 gloomy forest, and in about four hours reached 

 a little open glade where they concluded to 

 camp, as signs of game were plenty. 



There was still an hour or two of daylight 

 left, and after building a brush lean-to and 

 throwing down and opening their packs, they 

 started up stream. The country was very 

 dense and hard to travel through, as there 

 was much down timber, although here and 

 there the sombre woodland was broken by 

 small glades of mountain grass. 



At dusk they again reached camp. The 



VOL. III. 13 



