Big Game in the Rockies 



should judge one was a three-year-old and 

 the other a two-year-old. Still they were 

 good-sized grizzlies. 



Those skins seemed to grow in size and 

 weight as each of us lugged one up the side 

 of the mountain over shelving rock, snow, 

 and loose gravel to where we left our horses. 

 Of course they were not there, and we had to 

 go on, carrying the skins, which were growing 

 heavier and heavier every minute, until we 

 tracked our horses to where they were feed- 

 ing, and, in Western vernacular, "we had a 

 circus " packing those skins on my horse. It 

 was done at last, though, and to stay, by 

 means of blindfolding him with a coat; and 

 after a little while he settled down to work as 

 though he had carried bears all his many years 

 of service. I had a very nasty time in getting 

 down the mountain after my horse slipped 

 and fell down a gap in the crown rock. We 

 could not get the other down, so I took 

 charge of my horse and skins and made the 

 rest of the descent in safety, though it looked 

 squally for a bit when the old rascal's feet slid 

 out from under him, knocking me down in 



the snow, and he on top, and I could feel that 



119 



