After Wapiti in Wyoming 



trails, mud-wallows, slivered trees, and many 

 other evidences that large bands of elk had 

 occupied the country for months ; and my 

 packer insisted that we would surely find 

 them if we continued hunting in the rough 

 mountains which lay to the east. 



Early the next day, while at the brook mak- 

 ing my morning toilet, I heard Stewart say 

 to the cook that the horses had gone out of 

 the country; and after two minutes of very 

 vehement remarks, he informed me that five 

 horses had taken the back trail, and that 

 Worth must go with him to head them off. 

 So, each taking a horse, they rode away, leav- 

 ing me to keep camp with only old Scoop 

 Shovel, a split-eared packhorse, for company. 



Always having loved nature, I concluded 

 that a little prospecting on my own hook 

 would be preferable to lounging about camp 

 waiting for the return of the men and 

 horses ; so, saddling old Scoop Shovel, I 

 forded the brook and, crossing the scene of 

 my bad shooting the previous evening, 

 climbed a small range of hills. On the op- 

 posite side I found a good-sized stream, 

 which I thought was the main Coulter Creek. 



143 



