236 BIG GAME FIELDS 



two pictures of him I tried to rope him, and after 

 one or two unsuccessful throws only succeeded 

 in driving him farther up the tree. "Better 

 shoot the critter," shouted Hi, "or he may jump 

 out and give us another run." So with a hard- 

 nosed bullet, in order not to tear his hide, I 

 dropped the "little critter," as Hi called him, to 

 the ground. 



In the afternoon we lounged around camp, 

 preparing the hides and making plans for the 

 next day. We had finished an early supper and 

 were sitting about the camp fire smoking. The 

 flame of the setting sun smoldered and w r ent out, 

 the shadows were rapidly deepening through the 

 gorge, when soon a great dark water-laden cloud 

 swung low down in the heavens and drifted 

 through the gorge, coming in contact with a chill 

 stream of air which condensed it. Then there 

 came a great deluge of rain, accompanied by a 

 blinding display of electricity. The lightning 

 hissed and crashed among the tops of the giant 

 pines, shivering and splintering their boughs. 

 The thunderbolts boomed and roared through the 

 gorge and rumbled up and down as if grumbling 

 some grievance against the world. Terrific 

 blasts of wind swept down with the rain. It w r as 

 a terrible storm of the mountains. For four days 



