74 HUNTING TRIPS 



and in its winding bed the river lay fixed like 

 a huge bent bar of blue steel. 



We had been told that a small band of big- 

 horn was hanging around some very steep 

 and broken country about twenty-five miles 

 from the ranch-house. I had been out after 

 them once alone, but had failed to find even 

 their tracks, and had made up my mind 

 that in order to hunt them it would be neces- 

 sary to make a three- or four-days' trip, 

 taking along the buck-board with our bed- 

 ding and eatables. The trip had been de- 

 layed owing to two of my men, who had 

 been sent out to buy ponies, coming in with 

 a bunch of fi'fty, for the most part hardly 

 broken. Some of them were meant for the 

 use of the lower ranch, and the men from 

 the latter had come up to get them. At night 

 the ponies were let loose, and each day were 

 gathered into the horse corral and broken as 

 well as we could break them in such weather. 

 It was my intention not to start on the hunt 

 until the ponies were separated into the two 

 bands, and the men from the lower ranch 



