LOSE OURSELVES. 353 



horns being nearly two inches longer and one and a half 

 thicker ; he had seen a great many deer, but no sign of a bear. 

 As it was now late we rode as fast as we could for camp, 

 but were so hindered by the roughness of the ground that we 

 found we could not do it, not knowing the country well 

 enough to travel through it in the dark ; we therefore selected 

 a small sheltered hollow and put up a bough shelter, made a 

 big fire in spite of Indians, using very dry wood so that the 

 smoke should be less dense, and were soon very comfortable, 

 consuming a good supper of mountain mutton and water, after 

 which we turned in. Our only covering was one saddle- 

 blanket, but by lying close to each other we got through the 

 night pretty well, having now and then to make up the fire ; 

 and in the morning, after a breakfast of more mutton-steaks, 

 we reached camp by midday. 



Fishel and I made another round through the mountains on 

 the following day, and managed to lose ourselves, as this part 

 of the country was new to both of us ; but came at last to 

 an old road. It was raining hard and very dark, so we got off 

 to feel the road for tracks, as we had passed over one like this 

 in coming to our present camp ; and after groping about for 

 some minutes we found some tracks which we followed, and 

 soon saw an immense fire which they had lighted in camp to 

 guide us. We got in just as supper was ready and did ample 

 justice to it. 



As bears seemed to have left this part of the country, and 

 we did not care for any more deer-shooting, we decided to make 

 for the stage-road between Bozeman and Fort Keogh, I intend- 

 ing to take the stage for the latter place, while the Colonel 



meant to drive to Bozeman and sell the outfit, going on to 



2 A 



