58 CAMP FIRE REMINISCENCES 
a very heavy deer with a symmetrical eight-point 
head and a spread of twenty-four inches. 
After dressing him and marking the place, I 
found my horse, about dark, and returned to the 
ranch, having seen as much game as I ever saw 
before in one day and having had a great deal of 
exercise. ‘H. had returned, having also bagged a 
buck with a small head, and strange to say, these 
were the only deer killed by any of the people at 
the ranch that day. A very large party of elk 
hunters arrived from Colorado points late at night, 
as the short open season for that animal began 
in two days, and they were bound for the Meeker 
country. 
The following morning H. and myself were off 
together before daylight, having a man with us. 
My horse was the worst I ever rode; he either 
danced along sideways at about two miles an hour, 
or dashed at a breakneck rate. He was also gun- 
shy, and the moment the rifle was touched, he 
circled around and danced in an exasperating way. 
I was in favor of hunting the same country I had 
been over the day before and H. thought his was 
better, so each took his own way, the guide going 
with H. 
Deciding to hunt on foot, I tied my horse up on 
arriving at the plateau I had crossed the morning 
before, and examining the country with glasses, — 
I made out some moving white spots a mile or so 
away to the north on the summit of a ridge. The 
wind was favorable, so I started towards them 
through the brush. Dropping down from the sum- 
