140 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



ridge, and mountain, where one may go the whole distance 

 to the John Day country without meeting face or dwelling 

 of humankind; so that there was force in the caution, as 

 we started out, " If you get lost, go east! " 



My hunting companion was my oldest son — six feet and 

 an inch in his stockings; with dark hair and eyes, a manly 

 face and form — a powerful man; withal, a good shot and an 

 unusually fine hunter, always the reliance of the ranch for 

 meat when no one else could secure it. And, best of all, 

 to me a warm-hearted, generous, loving son, who was 

 delighted to have his father with him after a seclusion from 

 all he loved for five long years. 



We hunt together to-day. He has with him his favorite 

 Deer-dog, a cross of the Hound and the Pointer. I have my 

 beautiful Irish Setter, equally at home with Elk and Deer 

 as with the grouse on the foot-hills and in the meadows 

 below; but' in manner of hunting wholly another animal — 

 a changed dog, as may be accomplished with any good 

 Setter in three days' time. And so, the drowsiness of the 

 night shaken off, our coffee and breakfast over, just as the 

 sun is rising over the far foot-hills of the east, we grasp our 

 good rifles, wish good luck to our companions, and start for 

 the ridges and mountains west of us. It would be difficult 

 to convey to one unused to life of this kind, in the open air 

 and in woods and hills, and not fond of the rifle and its 

 uses, the sense of exhilaration, the springiness of step, the 

 thrill of gladness through the whole system, that are 

 inspired by life, for a time, in wild and sublime scenes like 

 these; especially, when added to all of ordinary forest free- 

 dom is the bracing quality of a rainless atmosphere and a 

 cloudless sky, at an elevation of five thousand feet above 

 the sea. Movement itself becomes pleasure; to climb a 

 steep hill-side or thread your way along a steep ridge has 

 no fatigue, while the intense and solemn stillness of the 

 primeval forest, far from the sound and haunts of men, 

 with the sense of entire physical freedom from care and 

 to go where you will coming in sharp contrast with the 

 confinement of daily life through the rest of the year, com- 



