EARLY DAY STORIES. 153 



did not care for it, but like range ponies in general preferred 

 to quench his thirst by eating snow from the drifts rather 

 than by drinking snow water melted over a fire. 



Before noon the camp had been moved and we were 

 established in new and permanent quarters. After dinner 

 I started northwest into the rough hills with the rifle. The 

 hills were not very high, but were exceedingly rough and 

 rocky, and were timbered with a scanty growth of scrubby 

 pine trees, with numerous ravines and pockets filled with a 

 thick growth of red cedar. There were also many patches 

 of ground juniper, a species of cedar that does not grow 

 to be more than a foot or two high but that spreads over 

 the surface of the ground, forming a thick mat. There 

 were fresh tracks of deer, and plenty of game signs. With- 

 out question we had found the right place. 



I have neglected to state that when we stopped for 

 dinner the day before, I targeted my rifle, not so much to 

 test the rifle, but to test my eyes. I had hunted very little 

 tor eight years, and was not sure that my eyesight was keen 

 enough to do good shooting. Charley put up a snow ball 

 about seventy-five yards away, and taking a rest so as to 

 be sure of my aim, I fired and broke the snow ball. Char- 

 ley said that might have been an accidental hit, and so he 

 put up a second snow ball, which was broken with a second 

 shot. I now felt sure of myself, and wanted only to find 

 the game. 



Up to this time the weather had been fine ever since 

 leaving home — the days were invariably sunshiny and 

 bright, warm in the middle of the day, and the nights frosty 

 and cold. Today, however, it began to cloud over in the 

 forenoon, and I had not gotten a mile from camp when it 

 began to snow hard, with a strong wind blowing from the 

 northwest. I waited in a sheltered place, and in a short 

 time it stopped snowing, but the wind continued to blow. 



