x THE BEAR 229 



and I fear we must have caused them great personal incon- 

 venience. 



On the following morning we started for the wilds of the Big 

 Horn, and crossing the Powder river, we at once commenced the 

 steep ascent, for a steady pull of 4000 feet above the dell in which 

 the house was situated. We left them, with the promise to pay 

 them a few days' visit on our return. 



It was then that we quickly discovered the peculiarities of our 

 four attendants, whom I had expected to be examples of stern 

 hardihood, that would represent the fabled reputation of the back- 

 woodsman. 



Although they were fine fellows in a certain way, they astonished 

 me by their luxurious habits. In a country that abounded with 

 game, I should have expected to exist upon the produce of the rifle, 

 as I had done so frequently during many years' experience of rough 

 life. A barrel of biscuits, a few pounds of bacon, and a good 

 supply of coffee would have been sufficient for a crowned head who 

 was fond of shooting, especially in a country where every kind of 

 animal was fat. My men did not view this picture of happiness in 

 the same light ; they required coffee, sugar, an immense supply of 

 bacon, an oven for baking bread, flour, baking-powder, preserved 

 apples (dried), ditto peaches, ditto blackberries, together with the 

 necessaries of pepper, salt, etc. 



It was always my custom to drink a pint of cafe au lait and to 

 eat some toast and butter at about 6 A.M. before starting for our 

 day's work ; after this I never thought of food throughout the day, 

 until my return in the evening, which was generally at five or six 

 o'clock. 



My people were never ready in the morning, but were invari- 

 ably squatted in front of the frying-pan, frizzling bacon, when I 

 was prepared to start. Jem Bourne was a chronic grumbler 

 because we hunted far away from camp, instead of returning at 

 mid-day to luncheon. Excellent fresh bread was baked daily, 

 and I insisted upon the people supplying themselves with sufficient 

 food packed upon their saddles, if they were not hardy enough 

 for a day's work after a good breakfast. 



I observed that my friends Big Bill and Bob Stewart were 

 also provided with a large supply of bacon, although they left the 

 fattest animals rotting in the forest, simply because they hunted 

 for the hides. 



In the same manner I remarked the extreme fastidiousness of 

 these otherwise hardy people in rejecting food which we should 

 have considered delicious. I have seen them repeatedly throw 



