HUNTING AND PROSPECTING 413 



shots and their fear had been the same as mine. 

 We left them to skin the bear while we continued 

 up the ravine. A mountain sheep showed him- 

 self far over our heads and several mule deer 

 started up the ravine ahead of us. We were fol- 

 lowing them when we came upon a wonderful 

 outcropping of mineral on the face of a tall, 

 vertical ledge. 



"There is our bonanza!'' exclaimed Ned, and I 

 was no less enthusiastic for the chase of a mine is 

 like hunting a bear, and finding it is quite as ex- 

 citing. We broke off a few samples of ore and 

 the next day came back with Mackenzie and Tim, 

 who got out fifty pounds of specimens while we 

 posted the legal notices of location. Ned wanted 

 to continue the hunt for a few days, but I wanted 

 to get back to work and especially was I anxious 

 to assay the specimens we had taken from our 

 new discovery. 



"Why don't you let Tom or Tim do this rough 

 work?" asked Ned as we were breaking up in 

 preparation for an assay the ore we had brought 

 from the Vallecito. 



