GOOD-BYE. CAMP TEPEE 



Tuesday the sixth. 



This morning there came a temporary cessation of the snow, 

 but the sky is heavily overcast. There were elk meat and hot corn 

 cakes for breakfast. 



There is something between twenty and twenty-four inches of 

 snow on the level, the wind from the west, what there is perceptible 

 by the drift of clouds, the temperature a bit below freezing ; and it's 

 a question of getting out to-day, and saving the horses, or remaining 

 on a chance of a break and clear, and starving the horses, and 

 risking still greater difficulty in getting out. 



The pack and saddle horses got no feed yesterday and there 

 being a limited supply of oats in camp, the horse wranglers are 

 drawing poker hands on the kitchen table to see which saddle 

 horses get the last feed of oats before starting. The starved pack 

 horses were given the hay which had been used in the camp beds. 



Oranges are handed out by William, who advised us thusly: 

 "Put the peel in your pocket to chew on going down." A little 

 earlier he had advised the artist, busy before a mirror, that it 

 wasn't an absolute necessity for him to shave, he might be a bit 

 more comfortable without, since, as spoken a trifle later "This is 

 the morning we make the dash for the pole." It was apparent to 

 all that William was most reluctant to leave camp and descend 

 to the lower levels. It meant the abandonment of a two or three- 

 day trip on Old Baldy and the adjoining ridges, planned by himself 

 and Jay, for bighorn, but there was now at least three feet of snow on 

 Old Baldy and no grass for the horses. William was observed to 

 put his nightcap in his pocket, and the artist likewise, for, as 

 William explained: "It will be a mighty comfortable thing to tie 

 around your ears if there's any wind going over those snow slopes 

 on the way down. 



The business of packing and saddling succeeded. The tying 

 of a pack, it is almost a commonplace to observe, is an art by 

 itself, attained in its perfection only after numberless trials, and 

 comprehending within its purview a variety of knots, hitches and 

 throws, almost as many in number as those a seaman is supposed 

 to master. The points aimed for by the packer, as gathered by 



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