At St. Mary's 



covery of the sheep on the ridge, and 

 which had been forgotten from then till 

 now, suddenly returned with redoubled 

 intensity. Our carbines were heavy; and 

 we concluded, too, that to carry an excess 

 of ammunition, forty rounds for instance, 

 on a trip like this, was simply absurd. 

 Well, we were learning fast ; and with 

 this comforting thought to cheer us, we 

 plodded on in silence. We were very glad, 

 in a despondent sort of way, when we 

 reached our horses. 



We needed no " plain, blazed trail " to 

 follow on the homeward trip ; our horses, 

 with a wonderful intelligence, took us at 

 a rapid gait straight back over the trail 

 we had followed coming up. At first we 

 often thought we knew better than our 

 beasts, and turned them right when they 

 would go left ; but as every time we did 

 this we were forced to retrace our steps 

 to the point where we had turned off, and 

 give in to our horses' better judgment, we 

 soon learned to let them have their own 

 way, and from that time on we never left 

 the trail. 



Late that night we reached camp, and 

 first of all sought the guide. We wished 

 to have a little talk with him about " plain, 

 blazed trails." We found him, had our 



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