A HUNTER'S GRAVE. 249 



between it and the mountain, in which stood a cabin, having a 

 grave in front of it, with a piece of wood, on which was cut a 

 cross placed upright at one end. The grave told its own tale very 

 plainly. Some hunter had put up this cabin to pass the winter 

 in, but had been murdered by the Indians, and someone finding 

 the body had buried it and erected this rough tombstone. 

 We had dinner here, and soon after leaving it saw two elk 



going over a ridge on our left ; so F set off to stalk them, 



and I remained holding the horses. At the end of half an 

 hour I heard a shot ; so I mounted and rode after him, and 

 found him in the next valley standing over a fine young bull. 

 Having now plenty of meat, the fancy took us to remain the 

 night in the hunter's cabin ; so we cut up the elk, and loading 

 both horses led them back to it, picketing them out, and 

 setting to work to repair the roof, most of which had fallen in, 

 as it was only constructed of fir-boughs. This we soon made 

 water-tight ; then we cleaned out the inside, putting down a 

 carpet of pine-branches ; made a saddle-blanket into a door, 

 and had everything snug by sunset. We had only venison 

 and water as food and drink, and one saddle-blanket as cover- 

 ing ; but as the end of the hut was solid rock, and as \ve had 

 made the fire against this, the inside was almost too warm : so 

 we passed a very pleasant night, sitting up late to discuss 

 Indian fights and hunting. There was something very romantic 

 in the situation of the place, and we very nearly made up our 

 minds to winter here, the scarcity of water causing us to give 

 up the idea. Now that that country is settled, and the Indians 

 have been driven out of it and placed on a reservation, I can 

 fancy that valley making a beautiful farm, and I hope that 

 some day I may revisit it and stay with the owner. 



