148 BIG GAME FIELDS 



for another fifteen-mile ride, should say climb, 

 as we were still going uphill. We made the 

 top of Blue Mountain about noon, which was 

 the highest point we reached, 9,000 feet above sea 

 level, and the top of the divide, where the rivers 

 flow to the Atlantic or Gulf on one side and 

 toward the Pacific on the other. We then com- 

 menced to descend until we reached about 6,000 

 feet, where we made our second camp in Trout 

 Canon. Camps are always made in this country 

 when possible in canons, as they are the only 

 places where water is procurable and one is also 

 protected from the winds. The days were quite 

 warm and comfortable, but as the sun sank in 

 the west it grew steadily colder until it dropped 

 below freezing, and ice formed every night. This 

 made the camp-fires at night, where many thrill- 

 ing stories were exchanged of adventures with 

 the silver-tip and lion, as well as recent Indian 

 killings by the Apaches and Yaquis, the more 

 welcome. 



We expected to spend several days in Trout 

 Canon and hunt the country thereabout before 

 dropping below to a section practically unex- 

 plored. I was after the big stuff, silver-tip and 

 lion, properly called cougar, but the first day, as 

 all hunters know, was devoted to the getting of 



