AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 149 



watch and held it up one case was torn off, the 

 crystal smashed, the dial caved in, and the running 

 gear all mixed up. The ranchman said he guessed 

 he had put one of the buckskin bags of shot into 

 that barrel, and forgetting that fact, had added the 

 loose charge. He said he reckoned twenty-four No. 

 2 buckshot made too heavy a load for an eight-pound 

 gun. 



We reached " Peavine Jimmy' s " mining cabin, 

 which was to be our camp, at three o'clock in the 

 afternoon, and busied ourselves till dark in the usual 

 duties of cooking, eating, and gathering wood. Old 

 Billy proved a very interesting character; he is a 

 simple, quiet, honest, unpretentious old man, and 

 unlike most backwoodsmen, a veritable coward. He 

 has the rare good sense, however, to admit it frankly, 

 and thus disarms criticism. In fact, his frequent 

 admission of this weakness is amusing. He says 

 that for fear of getting lost he does not like to go off 

 a trail when hunting, unless there is snow on the 

 ground, so that he can track him self back into camp. 

 He rides an old buckskin pony that is as modest and 

 gentle as its master. Billy says he often gets lost 

 when he does venture away from the trail, but in 

 such cases he just gives oldBuck therein, hits him a 

 slap, and tells him to go to camp and he soon gets 

 there. He told us a bear story that night, worthy of 

 repetition. Something was said that reminded him 

 of it, and he mentioned it, but added, modestly, 

 that he didn't know as we cared for any bear 

 stories. But we said we were very fond of them, 

 and urged the recital. 



" Well, then," he said, "if you will wait a minute, 



