OF A RANCHMAN 203 



among the boxes and bundles inside the 

 wagon and slept soundly till daybreak. 



When the sun rose next day, the third 

 we were out, the sky was clear, and we two 

 horsemen at once prepared to make a hunt. 

 Some three miles off to the south of where 

 we were camped, the plateau on which we 

 were sloped off into a great expanse of 

 broken ground, with chains upon chains of 

 steep hills, separated by deep valleys, wind- 

 ing and branching in every direction, their 

 bottoms filled with trees and brushwood. 

 Toward this place we rode, intending to go 

 into it some little distance, and then to hunt 

 along through it near the edge. As soon as 

 we got down near the brushy ravine we 

 rode along without talking, guiding the 

 horses as far as possible on earthy places, 

 where they would neither stumble nor 

 strike their feet against stones, and not let- 

 ting our rifle-barrels or spurs clink against 

 any thing. Keeping outside of the brush, 

 a little up the side of the hill, one of us 



