THE MOOSE 33 



and Montana. There were but two of us, and 

 we were travelling very light, each having but one 

 pack-pony, and the saddle animal he bestrode. 

 We were high among the mountains, and followed 

 no regular trail. Hence our course was one of ex- 

 treme difficulty. Occasionally we took our animals 

 through the forest near timber line, where the 

 slopes were not too steep ; again we threaded our 

 way through a line of glades, or skirted the foot 

 hills, in an open, park country ; and now and 

 then we had to cross stretches of tangled forest 

 making but a few miles a day, at the cost of 

 incredible toil, and accomplishing even this solely 

 by virtue of the wonderful docility and sure- 

 footedness of the ponies, and of my companion's 

 skill with the axe and thorough knowledge of 

 woodcraft. 



" Late one cold afternoon we came out in a high 

 Alpine valley in which there was no sign of any 

 man's ever having been before us. Down its 

 middle ran a clear brook. On each side was a 

 belt of thick spruce forest, covering the lower 

 flanks of the mountains. The trees came down 

 in points and isolated clumps to the brook, the 

 banks of which were thus bordered with open 

 glades, rendering the travel easy and rapid. 



3 



