174 



RANCH LIFE AND THE HUNTING-TRAIL 



crosswise on one another in the wildest confusion, and a road had to be 

 cleared by ax work. It was marvelous to see the philosophy with which 

 the wise litde beasts behaved, picking their way gingerly through these 

 rough spots, hopping over fallen tree-trunks, or stepping between them 

 in places where an Eastern horse would have snapped a leg short off, 

 and walking composedly along narrow ledges with steep precipices 



below. They were tame and friend- 

 ly, being turned loose at night, and 

 not only staying near by, but also 

 allowing themselves to be caught 

 without difficulty in the morning ; 

 industriously gleaning the scant 

 food to be found in the burnt places 

 or along the edges of the brooks, 

 and often in the evening standing 

 in a patient, solemn semicircle 

 round the camp fire, just beyond 

 where we were seated. Walla 

 Walla, the little mule, was always 

 in scrapes. Once we spent a morn- 

 ing of awkward industry in wash- 

 ing our clothes ; having finished, 

 we spread the half-cleansed array 

 upon the bushes and departed on a hunt. On returning, to our horror 

 we spied the miserable Walla Walla shamefacedly shambling off from 

 the neighborhood of the wash, having partly chewed up every individual 

 garment and completely undone all our morning's labor. 



At first we did not have good weather. The Indians, of whom we 

 met a small band, — said to be Flatheads or their kin, on a visit from the 

 coast region, — had set fire to the woods not far away, and the smoke 

 became so dense as to hurt our eyes, to hide the sun at midday, and to 

 veil all objects from our sight as completely as if there had been a heavy 

 fog. Then we had two days of incessant rain, which rendered our camp 

 none too comfortable ; but when this cleared we found that it had put 

 out the fire and settled all the smoke, leaving a brilliant sky overhead. 



We first camped in a narrow valley, surrounded by mountains so tall 

 that except at noonday it lay in the shadow ; and it was only when we 

 were out late on the higher foot-hills that we saw the sun sink in a flame 

 behind the distant ranges. The trees grew tall and thick, the underbrush 

 choking the ground between their trunks, and their branches interlacing 



DOWN BRAKES ! 



I 



