PLENTY OF GAME. 335 



to walk about waiting for the moon to rise, before I could make 

 my way to where I had left the pony. Fortunately I had 

 marked this so well, that I found it even by moonlight. After 

 this I never went without matches in my pocket, instead of in 

 my saddle-bag, where they were on this occasion. Had I had 

 them I should have camped for the night in the ravine, where 

 there was any amount of wood. As it was I did not reach the 

 pony till nearly ten o'clock, and I camped within a few yards 

 of where I had left him, and ate an enormous supper, having 

 only had a small piece of bread since the morning. Brownie 

 seemed to be quite glad to see me, neighing when he first heard 

 me and coming a short distance to meet me. 



The next day I reached the end of the range, and had a fine 

 view of the country away towards the Mussel-shell river, a dis- 

 tance of about twenty miles. There were several small bands 

 of buffalo in sight, and one old fellow was just at the edge of 

 the timber below me, but I must have wasted all the meat, so 

 I would not kill him. There were not so many tracks of bears 

 here as near our camp, as the berries were scarce, owing to the 

 country having been recently burnt. That morning I shot a 

 young black-tailed deer for meat and also a wild cat, using a 

 solid ball. Deer were very plentiful, and so tame that one lot 

 of five would not go away though I was within seventy yards 

 of them, and I had to shout and throw up my hat to startle them. 



I was now on the opposite side of the range to that on which 

 our camp lay, and where the scenery was not nearly so beautiful, 

 as the mountains came down very abruptly on my side, and 

 there was much less broken ground at their base, and I had to 

 ride along in the open. It was very hot in the sun in spite of 

 the snow, so after my mid-day meal I thought I would take a 



