An Elk-Hunt at Two-Ocean Pass. 



dim trail or none. The animals have a perverse faculty 

 for choosing the wrong turn at critical moments; and they 

 are continually scraping under branches and squeezing be- 

 tween tree-trunks, to the jeopardy or destruction of their 

 burdens. After having been laboriously driven up a very 

 steep incline, at the cost of severe exertion both to them 

 and to the men, the foolish creatures turn and run down 

 to the bottom, so that all the work has to be done over 

 again. Some travel too slow ; others travel too fast. Yet 

 one cannot but admire the toughness of the animals, and 

 the surefootedness with which they pick their way along 

 the sheer mountain sides, or among boulders and over 

 fallen logs. 



As our way was so rough, we found that we had to halt 

 at least once ever}' hour to fix the packs. Moreover, we at 

 the head of the column were continually being appealed to 

 for help by the unfortunates in the rear. First it would 

 be " that white-eyed cayuse ; one side of its pack 's down ! " 

 then we would be notified that the saddle-blanket of the 

 "lop-eared Indian buckskin" had slipped back; then a 

 shout " Look out for the pinto !" would be followed by 

 that pleasing beast's appearance, bucking and squealing, 

 smashing dead timber, and scattering its load to the four 

 winds. It was no easy task to get the horses across some 

 of the boggy places without miring ; or to force them 

 through the denser portions of the forest, where there was 

 much down timber. Riding with a pack-train, day in and 

 day out, becomes both monotonous and irritating, unless 

 one is upheld by the hope of a game-country ahead, or by 

 the delight of exploration of the unknown. Yet when 



