A COLORADO SKETCH 45 



down always exactly at the right moment in the 

 right place. I do not suppose they like it, for they 

 groan and grunt the while in a most piteous manner. 

 My pony was sure-footed and willing, and, more- 

 over, was used to pack game ; so we had little 

 trouble with him, and before long had the deer 

 firmly secured on the saddle and were well on our 

 way home. It was well for us that we killed the deer 

 in a comparatively accessible place, or we should 

 not have got him in that night or the next day. It 

 was almost dark when we topped the ridge, and 

 could look down into the Park and see the range 

 beyond, and there were plenty of signs there to show 

 that a storm was at hand. Right overhead the stars 

 were shining, but all the sky to the west was one 

 huge wall of cloud. Black Canon, the canon of the 

 river, and all the great rents in the range were filled 

 with vapour, and all the mountains were wrapped 

 in cloud. 



When we left the ranch that night after a good 

 supper, a game of euchre, and sundry pipes, it was 

 pitch-dark, and light flakes of snow were noiselessly 

 floating down to the earth ; and, when we got 

 up the next morning, behold ! there was not a 

 thing to be seen. Mountains, ranch-house, and 

 everything else were blotted out by a densely falling 



