202 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



the pack-animals, strung out in line ; while 

 from the rear rose the varied oaths of our 

 three companions, whose miserable duty it 

 was to urge forward the beasts of burden. 



It is heart-breaking work to drive a pack- 

 train through thick timber and over mountains, 

 where there is either a dim trail or none. 

 The animals have a perverse faculty for choos- 

 ing the wrong turn at critical moments ; and 

 they are continually scraping under branches 

 and squeezing between tree-trunks, to the 

 jeopardy or destruction of their burdens. 

 After having been laboriously driven up a 

 very steep incline, at the cost of severe exer- 

 tion both to them and to the men, the foolish 

 creatures turn and run down to the bottom, so 

 that all the work has to be done over again. 

 Some travel too slow ; others travel too fast. 

 Yet one cannot but admire the toughness of 

 the animals, and the surefootedness with 

 which they pick their way along the sheer 

 mountain sides, or among boulders and over 

 fallen logs. 



As our way was so rough, we found that we 

 had to halt at least once every hour to fix the 

 packs. Moreover, we at the head of the 

 column were continually being appealed to 

 for help by the unfortunates in the rear. 

 First it would be " that white-eyed cayuse ; 

 one side of its pack 's down ! " then we would 

 be notified that the saddle-blanket of the 

 " lop-eared Indian buckskin " had slipped 

 back ; then a shout " Look out for the pinto ! " 

 would be followed by that pleasing beast's 

 appearance, bucking and squealing, smashing 

 dead timber, and scattering its load to the 



