mRACULOUS ESCAPE. 297 



compelled to return to the Fort for repairs. I resolved, however, to remain 

 solo, despite his entreaties to the contrary. 



This was the first trial I ever made of hermit-life, and I must confess, 

 that after the first sensations of repulsive loneliness had been overcome, I 

 felt much attached to it, as subsequent pages will prove. 



Yet there was something so forbidding in the idea of my real situation, I 

 seldom reverted to it without experiencing feelings of gloomy apprehen- 

 sion. Nor need it be wondered at, removed as I Avas far away from friendly 

 aid, and in a dangerous country, with a thousand terrific scenes awaiting 

 me at every step. 



Still, in a little time I learned to forget all this, and roamed as freely by 

 day, and slept as soundly by night, as though surrounded by friends and 

 guarded by hosts of armed men. 



But the reader must not infer from these remarks that I had settled down 

 in a state of careless security, for I took especial care a all times to avoid 

 surprise, by close attention to certain indications which my own observa- 

 tion had taught me to regard as the general precursors of "danger from a 

 savage foe, in order, by a timely movement, to escape a contact so fraught 

 with peril. 



For several nights I had a constant visitor in the shape of a prairie-fox, — 

 a creature about twice the size of a large red squirrel. He came to ap- 

 pease his hunger from the small scraps of esculents that lay scattered 

 about camp, — devouring them while seated composedly by the fire. 



My stock of provisions was usually secured, at night, by substituting it 

 for a pillow ; but Mr. Reynard soon became so emboldened that he repeat- 

 edly took occasion to help himself, even at the risk of sundry cufls it was 

 my wont to bestow upon him whenever his eagerness led him to deal too 

 roughly with my hair. 



Two incidents of perilous adventure occurred during this interval, 

 which are perhaps not unworthy of narration. 



One day, having proceeded farther irom camp than was my custom with- 

 out finding game, towards night I came to the broad escarp of a mountain, 

 covered with scattering pines, and ascended to its summit in hopes of en- 

 countering deer or sheep, as the place gave indications of both. Here I 

 stood at the very verge of a vast precipice, some four or five hundred feet 

 high, overlooking a narrow valley, counter-scarped by a rough mountain 

 chain, where a large band of elk were quietly grazing. The sight appeared 

 so tempting I was unwilling to forego the opportunity of giving them a 

 passing shot. 



But how to get at them was the question. To go around the hill would 

 require a detour of some six miles, and consume too much time, as the day 

 was fast closing. Unless some means could be found enabling me to de- 

 scend the wall, it was evident I must abandon my design. 



Accordingly, after a short search, having found a ravinc-likc pass, worn 

 by the rains and falling rock, that apparently led to the valley below, I at- 

 tempted a descent. 



The breakage was steep and narrow, and the loose fragments and det- 



