A HUNTING-MATCH. 247 



He left us on the third day, and we were very sorry to see 

 him go. Some months afterwards an officer, who had been 

 moved from Fort William Russell to Fort Laramie, happened 

 to say one day that the best hunter in the west lived at Willow 

 Springs in Colorado. Now as there was a celebrated Indian 

 hunter, who supplied Laramie with game, the officers there 

 offered to back him against Houston, if he would consent to 

 hunt on the Indian's ground. He was sent for, and on hearing 

 the terms of the wager agreed to do his best, if given a fort- 

 night to learn the ground. The terms were arranged, and 

 they then set out on a hunt, the agreement being that which- 

 ever brought in most game at the end of a fortnight was to be 

 considered the winner, and was to get half the bet ; and at 

 the expiration of the time Houston had beaten the Indian 

 badly. This was probably done by good shooting, as I have 

 never yet seen an Indian who could shoot well. 



As the valley in which our camp was pitched seemed very 

 central for hunting and the keep was good, we determined to 

 put up a cabin ; so we began cutting logs, and had got together 

 a good many, when a passing hunter told us of a much better 

 place, so we abandoned the idea, meaning to remain some 

 weeks longer where we were, and to move to the place he 

 recommended later in the autumn. As it was unwise to 

 leave camp without anyone to look after it now that the 

 woodchoppers knew of our being in the mountains, we nad 

 to hunt singly, and found a good many deer, a light fall of 



snow making it easy to track them. F had a very long 



chase after an elk which he had wounded, following it for 

 eight hours far into the mountains, and he told me on his 

 return that, to judge by the sign he had come across, elk 



