THE HAYMAKER OF THE HEIGHTS 17 



long and in appearance much like a guinea pig; 

 but with regulation rabbit ears he might have 

 passed for a young rabbit. His big round ears 

 were trimmed short. 



Rarely do I name a wild animal it does not 

 occur to me to do so. But as he was the first 

 cony I had seen, and seeing him on top of 

 Long's Peak, I called him almost unconsciously, 

 " Rocky." 



Rocky raised his nose and head, braced him- 

 self as though to jump, and delivered a shrill 

 "Ke-ack." He waited a few seconds, then 

 another "Skee-ek. " I moved a step toward 

 him and he started off the top. 



That winter I climbed up to look for a num- 

 ber of objects and wondered concerning the 

 cony. I supposed he spent the summer on the 

 mountain tops and wintered in the lowlands. 

 But someone told me that he hibernated. At 

 twelve thousand feet I heard a "Skee-ek" and 

 then another. An hour later I saw conies sit- 

 ting, running over the rocks, and shouting all 

 around me more like recess time at school 

 than hibernating sleep. 



One of these conies was calling from a sky- 

 line rock thirteen thousand feet above the sea. 

 I walked toward him, wondering how near he 

 would let me come. He kept up his "Skee-ek- 

 ing" at intervals, apparently without noticing 



