Hunting American Big Game 



and, with the horses, turned loose to graze. 

 While the cook is preparing the evening 

 meal I bag a few prairie chickens, to give 

 variety to the fare. Breakfasting at day- 

 light the next morning, we are soon under 

 way again, with Pryor Mountains in the 

 distance as our goal for this day's journey. 

 Toward evening the white tepees of an 

 Indian camp are visible, clustered in a pic- 

 turesque group close to Pryor Mountains. 

 Passing them, not without paying a slight 

 tribute in the way of tobacco and such 

 other gifts as our copper-colored friends 

 generally demand, we fairly enter Pryor 

 Gap ; and there, in a delightful amphithe- 

 atre, we again make camp. This evening 

 we must have trout for supper ; so all hands 

 go to work, and we are soon rewarded with 

 a fine mess of trout from the head waters 

 of Pryor Creek. 



The next day, as we reach the summit 

 of the Gap, one of the most beautiful views 

 in the country opens out. The great main 

 range of the Rocky Mountains stretches 

 before us, its rugged snow-capped peaks 

 glistening in the morning sun, and we long 

 to be there ; but many a long mile still in- 

 tervenes, and forty-four miles of desert have 

 to be crossed to-day. This is always an 

 arduous undertaking. It is monotonous 



