110 CAMP FIRE REMINISCENCES 
underbrush, but under the trees, we decided to 
camp. 
Clouds had been piling up since noon and the 
sky looked threatening in the extreme. At this 
season the weather might break at any time and we 
could easily be snowed in. The pack horses were 
turned loose and the tent ordered up while lunch 
was being prepared. Our disgust was great when 
we found that instead of one of our good tents be- 
ing with us, the pack contained an old wagon cover 
full of holes, and not a tent at all. However, a 
rope was fastened between two trees and the wagon 
cover put over it and pegged down. After lunch 
we mounted our horses and under the guidance of 
Beard went off to examine a lick where deer of 
sorts were supposed to be really numerous. We 
found the lick and had there been deer in the coun- 
try, they would probably have been there or in the 
neighbourhood, but the deer in Chamberlain Basin 
were scarce and half a dozen with a couple of elk 
would have made all the tracks we found. The 
prospectors had been mistaken, as had all our in- 
formants, excepting the man on the South Fork. 
Game was indeed scarce in this part of Idaho. 
From the lick we wandered off into the timber and 
spent several hours searching for tracks; in a game 
country, these can always be found. 
Late in the afternoon the rumbling of distant 
thunder and the falling of big drops warned us to 
return to camp. It was dark when we got back 
and heavy rain was falling. The wretched tent 
would barely hold the three of us packed like sar- 
