IN THE OLD WEST 197 



he bent over his saddle-horn, dug his ponderous 

 rowels into the lank sides of his beast, and, with- 

 out a word, struck up the bluff and disappeared. 



The others, hastily gathering up their packs, 

 and most of them having lost their traps, quickly 

 followed his example, and " put out." On crest- 

 ing the high ground which rose from the creek, 

 they observed thin columns of smoke mounting 

 into the air from many different points, the mean- 

 ing of which they were at no loss to guess. How- 

 ever, they were careful not to show themselves 

 on elevated ground, keeping as much as possible 

 under the banks of the creek, when such a course 

 was practicable ; but, the bluffs sometimes rising 

 precipitously from the water, they were more than 

 once compelled to ascend the banks, and continue 

 their course along the uplands, whence they might 

 easily be discovered by the Indians. It was 

 nearly sundown when they left their camp, but 

 they proceeded during the greater part of the 

 night at as rapid a rate as possible ; their prog- 

 ress, however, being greatly retarded as they ad- 

 vanced into the mountain, their route lying up 

 stream. Towards morning they halted for a brief 

 space, but started again as soon as daylight per- 

 mitted them to see their way over the broken 

 ground. 



The creek now forced its way through a narrow 

 canon, the banks being thickly clothed with a 

 shrubbery of cottonwood and quaking-ash. The 



