Good-Bye, Camp Tepee ^ 



the observing scribe, are balanced distribution of weight upon the 

 animal's back, and such a securing of the pack with the packline 

 that every unexpected stress and strain caused by motion upon an 

 uneven and steep trail, is taken up in every direction, each part of 

 the line stressing upon every other part in such a way as to keep all 

 taut. As a minor incident of the entire business is to be noted 

 again, William's peculiarly workmanlike mode of forming a close, 

 compact, and solid bedding roll, enclosing rifles and other such 

 impedimenta awkward to stow of themselves. The pack bags, 

 oblong floored, high sided canvas bags reinforced at the corners 

 and lips with leather, with projecting iron rings for the passage of 

 the packline, and holding provisions, kitchen utensils, and like 

 small items, are to be noted as a necessary part of pack-traveling 

 equipment. 



A hasty lunch, the final securing of provisions left behind from 

 roof rafters, beyond the reach of small wild animals that might 

 gain entry, and the dousing of the fire, and the march commenced. 

 Crossing the creek, the artist waved a farewell to Mount Baldy, 

 brilliantly white in the sun against drifting clouds, and fell there- 

 after to observing the flashing hues of refracted light from melted 

 snowdrops on the hindquarters of the pack horse immediately 

 before him. Through the snow the pack animals plunged and 

 tango stepped, following the colonel of the camp and Jay, breaking 

 trail. The snow slopes, blinding in sunny brilliance, showed in 

 sharp cut shadow the plodding forms of the pack train. Heavily 

 snow-weighted fir trees beside the trail bent over into fantastic 

 suggestions of white hooded, mysterious figures. Sometimes a 

 quaint grotesque, causing an inward smile was encountered. 

 Advancing to a rise, William turned in his saddle and waved a 

 hand to the artist to make sure of his seeing a noble group of firs, 

 sculpturesquely draped in alban purity, that dominated the 

 eminence. Jay was observed to check his horse and look down 

 upon his right. The artist did so likewise on reaching the same 

 point, and for some further distance meditated upon the curious 

 recognitory thrill that comes to one identifying for the first time 

 the trail of the bull elk in the snow. Presently, in the woods, up 

 and down the slopes, occasional small avalanches of powdered 

 snow descended from branches overhead, barely poised, needing 

 but the passage of a pack horse to disturb them. One noted again 



