AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 253 



they had breakfasted, and with their packs, con- 

 sisting of two pairs of blankets each and a two days' 

 supply of cooked food, they started. They did not 

 dare picket or hobble their horses, as either would 

 give the wild beasts a chance to attack and kill 

 them, and could only trust to luck, an abundant 

 supply of good grass and water, and the well-known 

 attachment which nearly all Western horses feel for 

 a camp, to keep them there until their return. 



After a hard day's climb they came upon abun- 

 dant signs of goats about the middle of the after- 

 noon, and, preparing a temporary bivouac under a 

 shelving rock, they deposited their loads, made a 

 pot of coffee, ate a hearty dinner, and started out to 

 look for the game. They had not gone far when 

 Mr. Westlake sighted a large, handsome male goat 

 standing on the top of a cliff, and approaching 

 within easy rifle range he fired and killed it. It fell 

 some twenty or thirty feet, and lodged behind a pro- 

 jecting slab of granite. It was secured after consid- 

 erable hard work, hastily skinned, and the skin and 

 some of the best cuts of the meat carried to their 

 temporary camp. Night was now approaching, and 

 the hunters set about preparing a supply of wood. 

 There were numerous dead pine and cedar trees, of 

 stunted growth and peculiar shapes, standing and 

 lying among the rocks, and a. generous supply was 

 soon provided. Next, a large quantity of cedar 

 boughs were cut, brought in and spread under the 

 overhanging rock, to a depth of a foot or more. On 

 these the blankets were spread, and the hunters had a 

 bed which many a tired lodger in Eastern city hotels 

 might well envy them. By building a rousing lire 



