200 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



implicit faith under the patronage and guidance of this 

 remarkable personage, we met mth " sport" to satiety at 

 last, -within two days. 



We had gone out as usual on the third, and in a different 

 direction from any we had yet tried. The spot assigned me 

 for a stand by Jabe was by far the most remarkable I had 

 yet seen. Five miles back, we had, with considerable diffi- 

 culty, climbed up the steep side of a lofty and wooded ridge, 

 that seemed much higher than any one w^ had yet seen. 

 We had found the top, or comb, apparently level ; though as 

 we rode on, I observed the surrounding country to be either 

 sinking beneath the feet of the ridge, or else the ridge wp.s 

 rising rapidly above the country. Suddenly we came to what, 

 I remember instantly reminded me of my boyish idea of the 

 " jumping-off place !" The thing was so sudden that our 

 horses reared backwards and snorted with affright. We were 

 on the sheer verge of a precipice three hundred feet in depth, 

 and the heavy forest below us looked almost like lichens 

 clinging to stones, which were in reality considerable bluffs. 

 It seemed as if the ancient basin of some ocean lay at our 

 feet, stretching as far as the eye could reach on either hand 

 and in front ; while far away to the right, .just under the 

 rim of the horizon, we could distinguish the dark, heavy line 

 of the wood bordering Green river ; while to the left it shut 

 down upon a blue serrated line of lofty Knobs. We were 

 lost in wonderment, gazing over this extraordinary scene, 

 when Charlie suddenly shouted, as he turned his head quickly : 



" Hilloa, there ! — you Jabe — where are you making off to, 

 you tallow-skinned knave ? — you havn't shown me my stand 

 yet!" 



But Jabe either did, or pretended not to hear, and only 

 increased the celerity of his gait, as he went crashing through 

 the brush down the steep ridge-side without turning his head, 

 even. Charlie was highly enraged, and bestowed upon him 

 sundry expletives not of the choicest selection, but which it is 



