60 CAMPING WITH THE PRESIDENT 



The next day, while the rest of us went fishing for 

 trout in the Yellowstone, three or four miles above 

 camp, over the roughest trail that we had yet traversed 

 on horseback, the President, who never fishes unless 

 put to it for meat, went off alone again with his lunch 

 in his pocket, to stalk those sheep as he had stalked 

 the elk, and to feel the old sportsman's thrill without 

 the use of firearms. To do this involved a tramp of 

 eight or ten miles down the river to a bridge and up 

 the opposite bank. This he did, and ate his lunch near 

 the sheep, and was back in camp before we were. 



We took some large cut-throat trout, as they are 

 called, from the yellow mark across their throats, and 

 I saw at short range a black-tailed deer bounding 

 along in that curious, stiff-legged, mechanical, yet 

 springy manner, apparently all four legs in the air at 

 once, and all four feet reaching the ground at once, 

 affording a very singular spectacle. 



We spent two nights in our Tower Falls camp, and 

 on the morning of the third day set out on our return 

 to Fort Yellowstone, pausing at Yancey's on out way, 

 and exchanging greetings with the old frontiersman, 

 who died a few weeks later. 



While in camp we always had a big fire at night in 

 the open near the tents, and around this we sat upon 

 logs or camp-stools, and listened to the President's 

 talk. What a stream of it he poured forth ! and what 

 a varied and picturesque stream ! anecdote, history, 

 science, politics, adventure, literature; bits of his 

 experience as a ranchman, hunter, Rough Rider, 

 legislator, Civil Service commissioner, police commis- 

 sioner, governor, president, ftie frankest confes- 

 sions, the most telling criticisms, happy characteriza- 



