—123— 
One never leaves camp without taking it as a cane; 
and at night it is wrapped in the blanket with the 
sleeper, to be ready for use at the first alarm. As 
disquieting as such conditions would be in civilized 
life, here one becomes so habituated to them that I 
do not remember to have ever slept more peacefully 
in my life. We no longer used tents, but slept quite 
unprotected in the open air. The weather, too, had 
of late become so genial as to leave nothing to be de- 
sired. During all the time that we were on the west 
side of the Rocky Mountains we had very steady 
weather. In the morning the thermometer was us- 
ually between 30° and 40° Fahrenheit; at noon about 
80°; at evening about 60°. With this the sky was 
clear and the west wind cool. When clouds occasion- 
ally gathered, the west wind, putting forth more 
force, scattered the approaching storm, sometimes 
with thunder and lightening, but generally without 
rain. 
Beginning 
the Return 
Journey— 
The Beaver 
