356 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



sore. I was moving all the time, but I did not know where 

 I was going, for I sometimes found myself back at a point 

 from which I had started half an hour before. I finally 

 reached the bank of a precipice, through which a turbulent 

 stream loudly brawled, and there I heard the welcome 

 notes of an answering horn seemingly to my left. This 

 joyous sound nerved me amazingly, and gave me the 

 strength of a giant, apparently, for I blew a blast that 

 caused the forest and chasm to resound with it for miles. 

 I then stumbled through the canyon, crossed the stream in 

 some manner that I cannot now recall, for it was deep and 

 swift in places, and, emerging on the other side, I com- 

 menced running at my best speed, halting only long enough 

 to give a loud halloo or to sound the horn. I received an- 

 swering shouts and blasts at intervals, but they sometimes 

 sounded afar off, and at other times very near. After trav- 

 elling for an hour I reached a morass, and a small, deep 

 stream ; and these I crossed on fallen slippery trees with a 

 dexterity I could not again equal. 



While passing through a part of the forest so deep and 

 gloomy that even the stars were not visible, owing to the 

 density of the shrubbery, I started a bear from its lair, and 

 it went growling and tearing through the bushes ahead of 

 me. Nervous and excited as I was, I could notice every- 

 thing passing about me in the keenest manner possible. 

 The weird hoot of the owl, the whistle of the startled deer, 

 the howl of the wolf, and the loud whirr of alarmed coveys 

 of grouse impressed me at once; and, though uneasy in 

 mind, through fear of getting lost in the untrodden forest, 

 yet I felt a sort of pleasure in the dark and strange scenes, 

 and the wild animals that surrounded me. 



Another hour's travelling led me through three chasms, 

 and these I crossed in hot haste ; but finding I was getting 

 no nearer the answering shouts and horn -blasts, I com- 

 menced firing my shot-gun. This was responded to by a 

 rattling volley, and then for the first time did I get the 

 true bearings of the sounds of succor. I hastened rapidly 

 toward them, firing as I advanced, to show my position, 



