20 



CHAPTER II. 



DISAPPEARANCE OF MY NAGS UNWELCOME SERENADE FIRST AP- 

 PEARANCE OF BUFFALO DESERTED ENCAMPMENT REMARKABLE 



SUGAR-LOAF MOUNTAIN A FAMILY OF BEARS MAKING A PAIR 



OF TROUSERS BIG-HORNS AND ROCKY-MOUNTAIN SHEEP THE 



TURKEY BUZZARD GOOD CAMPING-GROUND. 



ON reaching home I found the camp -fire extin- 

 guished, and was unable to discover any traces of 

 my nags. The former was unimportant in itself, 

 as my flint and steel would soon produce a fresh 

 blaze ; and to the extinction of the fire I attributed 

 the absence of the animals. 



At break of day, as there was no indication of 

 my quadrupeds being in the vicinity, I shouldered 

 my double-barrel, and followed for more than a mile 

 their indistinct tracks. After a time, from the soil 

 becoming firmer, I was compelled to give up the 

 trail, and trust to luck. About noon I could not 

 have been possibly less than six or seven miles from 

 home ; still there were not the slightest signs of the 

 truants. I observed in a hollow a considerable drift 

 of snow, and on its surface the fresh imprint of a 

 large bear's feet. A little alarmed lest Bruin might 

 have a penchant for horse-flesh, and had indulged his 

 taste at my cost, I endeavoured to get some clue to 



