7 6 HUNTING TRIPS 



midst of the confusion word was brought by 

 one of the cowboys, that while hunting for 

 the horses he had seen two bears go down 

 into a wash-out ; and he told us that he could 

 bring us right to the place where he had 

 seen them, for as soon as he left it he had 

 come in at speed on his swift, iron-gray 

 horse a vicious, clean-limbed devil, with 

 muscles like bundles of tense wire; the cold 

 had made the brute savage, and it had been 

 punished with the cruel curb bit until long, 

 bloody icicles hung from its lips. 



At once Merrifield and I mounted in hot 

 haste and rode off with the bringer of good 

 tidings, leaving hasty instructions where we 

 were to be joined by the buck-board. The 

 sun was still just below the horizon as we 

 started, wrapped warmly in our fur coats 

 and with our caps drawn down over our ears 

 to keep out the cold. The cattle were stand- 

 ing in the thickets and sheltered ravines, 

 huddled together with their heads down, the 

 frost lying on their backs and the icicles 

 hanging from their muzzles ; they stared at 



