The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



relish living cheek by jowl with the Indians, I 

 told him he might sleep at the foot of my bed in 

 our tent, and could pull the ends of my big 

 blankets over him too, if necessary. This tickled 

 Sing to death, and I believe after that he would 

 have done anything for me. I will admit that 

 I was not altogether unselfish over the matter, 

 as his body kept my feet splendidly warm, so 

 that we were both satisfied. 



We were now to go to the Basin, but the 

 loss of one of our pack-horses delayed us 

 for several hours. It seemed that the poor 

 brute had fallen down the river bank, and 

 owing to being hobbled was unable to get 

 back again. The Indian found it after a lot 

 of trouble half a mile away on a sand-spit; 

 we could not, owing to this delay, make the 

 Basin that night, so had to camp en route. The 

 wind nearly cut one in half, the cold being ex- 

 treme, at least twenty degrees below zero, so 

 much so that the butter, milk, and meat were 

 frozen solid ; the two former had to be thawed 

 out before they could be used, whilst the meat 

 had to be cut off in chips with an axe. Next day 

 we arrived at our destination, and tossed up a 

 coin for choice of ground, agreeing to take the 

 best part of the country alternately. I lost the 

 toss, and went into the country at the back of 

 my camp. After a lot of walking I came to a 



bluff in a little valley, where, beneath me, I saw 



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