842 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 29, 1888. 



OUT OF LUCK. 



THE Miner bad only been a few days at the ranch, He 

 bM Stopped there lor a brief visit on his way from an 

 examination of some mines down in Dakota, and his profes- 

 sional duties would soon eall him away again to make other 

 subterranean explorations. This was to be a bit of n rest. 

 However. For a little While he was to lay aside bis usual 

 occupation of penetrating deeply into the bowels of the 

 earth, and subjecting to scientific scrutiny such portions 

 of these viscera as lie could lay bare. Here there would he 

 no opportunity for him to open prospect holes, or shovel dirt, 

 or sink shafts, or drive tunnels. Here there were no mines 

 and no prospects, So lor the present, pick and pan, and 

 Bledge and drill were standing- idle against: the house, and 

 their owner went hunting up in the mountains, or lounged 

 about in the warm sunshine, or took pnrt in the different 

 labors nf the ranch. 



It was a pretty busy lime and all hands were at work. 

 Some of the men were chopping in the limber, and building 

 a slide down the face of the mouutain behind the house. 

 Additional barns and corrals were heing put up. A few 

 loads of hay were still waiting to be hauled to the stacks, 

 and all the work and saddle horses were to be shod. Still, 

 with so many mouths to be filled, it was necessary to send 

 into the hills every two or three days for meat, and this labor 

 usually fell to the Miner and the Scout. The Miner was an 

 old mountain man. He had sunk bis pick iu many a silver- 

 bearing hill in the Rocky Mountains, and his pan had tasted 

 the waters of almost every stream from the Platte to the 

 Gulf of California. The gold of the Black Hills, the silver 

 of Colorado and the copper of Arizona had each had some 

 story to tell him. and lie had wandered through the ancient 

 Spanish workings of the historic mines of Old Mexico. 



How it so chanced that the Miner, though he had traveled 

 so long in this western country, had never happened to 

 stumble on a mountain sheep within fair rifle range. Once or 

 twice, to be sure, he had fired at one of these animals, at five 

 or sixkundrcd yards distance, but, of course, without results. 

 Elk, and blacktail and wbitctail deer without, number, he 

 had killed, and he irad been lucky enough to drive the lead 

 into the flank of a huge old grizzly, as the bear was industri- 

 ously occupied in endeavoring to dig out a woodchuck from 

 among the rocks on a steep mountain side, and bad seen the 

 wicked fury of the monster as he turned and bit the wound. 

 But he had never killeda bighorn. Of course.therefore, bighorn 

 .seemed to him of all game the most desirable. Whether or no 

 he would have an opportunity to capture one now, seemed 

 doubtful. In the hills near the ranch there were few or no 

 mountain sheep, but about twenty-five miles to the north- 

 ward was a lone mountain, where they were abundant. It 

 was a rough pile of yellowish sandstone, rising perhaps two 

 thousand feet above the plain, and dotted here and there 

 with dark pitch pines, which were visible as tiny black spots 

 against the light colored rock as far as the mountain could 

 be seen. Its sides were sleep and rugged and its crest rose 

 sharply to a knife edge. A Horse could not get about on it 

 at all, a man had to scramble up or down, half the time upon 

 his bands and knees, but it was just such a place as the 

 sheep delight in, its difficulties of ascent presenting no 

 obstacles to them. 



One evening as they all sat together in the "living room" 

 of the ranch, the Miner's desire to kill a sheep was men- 

 tioned, and the Boss on hearing of it, told Scout that he had 

 better take a pack horse next day, and go with the Miner 

 over to this mountain for a hunt. They could go there and 

 back, lie said, iu two days and so could make the trip and 

 have one day to hunt, and be back at the ranch before the 

 time fixed upon for starting for the railroad. The plan 

 seemed a good one, and preparations for the start were made 

 at once. 



Early next morning Bell and Bill were saddled, and on 

 Jill, the yellow mare, was sinched the pack saddle. The 

 Miner was an old packer, and with his invincible "diamond 

 hitch," had conquered many a Mexican jack, and so the 

 task of putting the pack on Jill— who bad never hefore car- 

 ried one— was intrusted to his greater experience. The side 

 packs were carefully prepared, weighted and slung in place, 

 and the sling rope tied; then the remainder of the pack, con- 

 sisting only of three or four pairs of blankets, was piled 

 a small tent Hy'— in case of a snow storm— thrown over all ; 

 the lasti rope adjusted, and the east— so mysterious to every 

 man who is not, a packer— made. Then as each part of the 

 rope fell in its proper place, followed the tightening beneath, 

 and at the corners. There were the usual remonstrative 

 groans from the horse, us ilie sineh drew tighter, the cus- 

 tomary calls and grunts from the men, as with one foot 

 braced against the pack or the animal's quarter, they surged 

 back upon the rope; the swinging of the load after all had 

 been made fast, and the sighting from before and behind to 

 see that it was properly adjusted and hung evenly, and 

 finally the satisfied remark, "I guess that will ride," which 

 announced that the [lacking of the beast was completed. 



The hunters when they started otf were not in all respects 

 satisfactorily equipped. A day or two before, an accident 

 had disturbed the sights on the Miner's rifle, and he had not 

 since been able to get them back into their old place so that 

 he could do satisfactory shooting. The Scout was iu trouble 

 too. nis horse had rolled with his saddle and had sprung 

 the tree so that it could not be used. He was therefore 

 obliged to take a light saddle which had been used by the 

 steep herder, who had almost spurred the sineh in two. In 



order to provide the Miner with a satisfactory gun, it was 

 determined to stop on their way at one of the sheep camps 

 in the hills, and get from the herder the rifle belonging to 

 the Boss, which had been left there a week or two hefore. 



All their preparations had not taken long and the sun was 

 uot very high in the heavens when the little train moved out 

 from the ranch. An attempt to let the yellow mare follow 

 resulted only iu disappointment and vexation of spirit. She 

 was not. accustomed to traveling in single file, and though 

 the Miner rode behind her twirling the end of a lariat 

 iu order to encourage her if she grew weary beneath her 

 load, she often manifested a disposition to turn aside and to 

 lie down and roll upon the prairie. The names with which 

 she was pelted at each demonstration of this kind were hard 

 enough to keep her going for a quarter of a mile; hut 

 this sort of thing required too much vocal effort on the 

 part of her drivers to he altogether agreeable to them, and 

 presently her lariat was arranged about her head as a 

 jaquiiuf, or halter, and the other end was passed to the 

 Scout, who rode on again, dragging the beast behind him, 

 ,hile i lie iMiuer followed close at her heels. As she kept 

 lulling back and turning from one side to the other, the strain 

 n the rope was nearly continuous, and presently the Scout 

 passed it under his leg, and about the horn of his saddle, and 

 then she followed better, and the leaders arm rested. 



So they rode quietly along, the Miner sending long streams 

 of smoke from his nostrils as he whiffed at his cigarette, and 

 the Scout taking comfort in his old black pipe. The never 

 ceasing wind whistled over the prairie, carrying in its cool 

 freshness some hint of the approaching winter, and bearing, 

 too, the pungent odor of the sage, with now and then a breath 

 of the fragrance which it had stolen from the pine forests 

 through whose damp recesses it had just been hurrying. On the 

 slopes of the mountains just above them were a few white dots 

 that marked a band of feeding antelopes, and down over the 

 lakes large flocks of ducks were swinging about, sometimes 

 clustering together like a black cloud and then stretching 

 out in a long hazy line, like a fading smoke wreajh becoming- 

 more and more faint. Among the sage brush on the prairie 

 the white-winged blackbirds— black no longer, hut now iu 

 their autumnal dress, brown birds— were feeding, uneasy and 

 restless as, except in the breeding season, they always are, and 

 in the dust of the road the shore larks, yellow-throated and 

 with black cravats, ran along before the horses or rose with 

 a sweet mellow twitter almost from beneath their feet, 

 Over the distant hills the late autumn had thrown her 

 haze, so that their slopes were veiled in mist, and only the 

 far-off outlines seen, shadowy and indistinct. 



For the most part the travelers were silent, since in the 

 fresh wind conversation, at the distance which separated 

 them, was impossible, except by shouting. They rode along, 

 sometimes crossing pleasant grassy valleys, through which 

 flowed little sparkling streams, and where the moist earth 

 supported a thick sod, or again traversing narrow hogbacks. 

 where nothing grew but sage brush and greasewood and 

 cactus, until they rounded the point of the mountain, and 

 reached the divide betweeu the Muddy and Sage Creek. 



The yellow marc had been going along very quietly and 

 •well. So much so indeed that she had been quite forgotten, 

 but now she called attention to herself in an impressive 

 manner. The Scout suddenly heard behind him a sound of 

 pounding on the earth, and turning in the saddle, saw that 

 Jill was bucking "like a bay steer in the corn," and that tbe 

 saddle had slipped back till it was over her loins and was 

 still retrograding. Evidently the pack must go. Forgetting 

 his weakened sincb, the Scout whirled his mare, intending 

 to throw the pack horse, hut a sudden side movement on the 

 part of the latter brought the lariat sharply across Bell's 

 heels, and forthwith the latter joined in the dance. Bill, 

 who was not far behind, caught the spirit of the other two 

 horses, and he too began to pitch. The Miner stuck to him 

 like, wax, but Scout was less fortuuate. As soon as the 

 sharp strain was brought on the rope which joined the 

 two mares, Scout's sineh broke and his saddle was 

 "snaked" off his horse. He accompanied it. Then 

 there were five animated figures to be seen on the bare 

 prairie— a man riding a bucking horse, another man stand- 

 ing on his head and one shoulder, with a saddle clasped 

 between his thighs, a brown mare running off and a yellow 

 one standing still and gazing with malicious satisfaction at 

 the ruin she had wrought. Describing graceful parabolas 

 through the air, or- just fallen upon the ground, were the 

 goods and chattels of the hunters; the Scout's gun, three or 

 tour pairs of blankets, a hatchet, a rubber sheet, the side 

 packs, a tin kettle, and all the various impedimenta of a 

 camp— a pitiful wreck. 



Even as ho stood there on his head, the humor of th« situ- 

 ation struck the old man, and he could not help chuckling 

 inwardly at the amusement that some of the hoys would 

 have felt could they have beheld the scene that had 

 been enacted. In a "few seconds he was on his feet, and 

 walked to where his rifle lay, picked it up and assured him- 

 self that its sights had not sustained any injury, then started 

 off to catch his mare, which had stopped bucking, and was 

 now walking away about fifty yards from him. 



The Miner's horse was now quieted, aud he came riding 

 back with a serious face to inquire as to tiie injuries which 

 his companion might, have sustained. Bell was easily caught, 

 and the scattered company being again assembled, the 

 amount of the damage done was reckoned up. It was dis- 

 covered that beyond a few bruises to the dismounted horse- 



man and the breakage of his saddle gear, absolutely nothing 

 was lost or injured. In a short time the broken sineh was 

 neatly repaired with some buckskin strings, the pack once 

 more placed on Jill, and before long the little cavalcade was 

 once more quietly moving along over the prairie. A couple 

 of miles more brought them to the valley of Sage Creek, up 

 which they turned and soon reached the shepherd's cabin. 



It was a little after noon, and the white valley from which 

 every blade of grass had been worn away by the daily pas- 

 sage over it of the sheep, was baking in the. hot sun. The 

 shepherd was of course out with his Hock, aud in all prob- 

 ability the rifle which they had come to get was at that 

 moment slung to his saddle The band would not come in 

 until nearly sundown — too lab- to start off again for the gray 

 mountain, which looked as far off now as it had when they 

 started that morning from the much. The desired gun could 

 not be found in the cabin, so Scout told the Miner that if he 

 would wait there with the pack, he himself would ride off 

 over the hills and see if the sheep could be found and the 

 rifle secured. 



It might be imagined that it would be an easy matter to 

 take up the trail of a band of 2,500 sheer* ami billow it 

 wherever it might lead. And so it would be where the band 

 had passed but once, or at a considerable intervals of time; 

 but here was a valley along which the animals passed 

 at least twice each day, and so left an inextricable con- 

 fusion of tracks. It was, therefore, more a matter of good 

 luck than of skill that the Scout, as he rode along, picked 

 out what appeared to be the most recent trail, and followed 

 it up over the hills, until after riding perhaps two miles, he 

 heard the tinkle of the sheep bells, and soon saw on the 

 neighboring slope the gray moving dots that he recognized 

 as the feeding animals. Among them sat the shepherd, as 

 usual, deep in a novel, and near him his pony grazing, while 

 at his feet was curled the black and tan collie, without whose 

 services his task would have been so much more laborious. 

 Riding up to him the Scout dismounted and filled his pipe 

 and then the news was asked for and given by both. The 

 doings at the ranch and the directions of the Boss were de- 

 tailed, and the condition of the sheep inquired into. The 

 herder said that quite a number of the sheep had the scab, 

 and L he urged on Scout the importance of having the 

 whole bunch dipped as soon as possible, and the lattur 

 felt that he ought to return at once to the ranch and 

 report to the Boss. On reaching the cabin, there- 

 fore, it was decided that he should ride back as speedily 

 as possible to the ranch and report the condition of tbe 

 sheep, while the Miner should go with him pari way, and 

 hunt a little among the timber, and then return to the cabin. 

 Scout, if he had time, was to return that night, and if not, 

 then the next day at the earliest hour practicable. It was 

 uow the middle of the afternoon, and time to be moving. 

 They therefore unpacked the yellow mare and picketed her 

 out, and then mounting, rode across the valley and up 

 into the hills. Scarcely had they gone half a mile when 

 they saw appear on the crest of a sparsely timbered ridge 

 the forma of half a dozen elk. They were moving along at 

 a brisk walk, and soon disappeared in the forest. The Miner 

 secured his horse to a fallen tree and started after them on 

 foot, while his companion, as soon as they were well out of 

 sight, pushed on for the ranch. When he reached it the sun 

 had set, and it was too late to get back to the cabin before 

 dark. 



It was but just gray dawn next morning, however, when 

 he was in the saddle aud slowly climbing the mountain side 

 on his way back,. When he came within sight of the cabin 

 he was puzzled. It was after 8 o'clock, but the bars were 

 up, and the sheep still within the corral. No smoke rose 

 from the chimney of the little building, yet at that hour of 

 the day it could scarcely be that the shepherd was still in 

 bed. He noticed, too, that of the three horses which should 

 have been there, only the yellow mare was to be seen. When 

 he reached the cabin he found it empty. There were two 

 beds, on one of which he recognized the Miner's blankets, 

 but these had been long deserted. He placed bis hand ou 

 the stove. It was almost cold. The Scout was thoroughly 

 puzzled as to what had taken place. While he was 

 cooking his breakfast, he indulged iu speculations as 

 to what had taken the two men away from the camp. 

 The most plausible explanation seemed to lie tbat the 

 Miner had killed an elk the previous evening, and that 

 the two had gone to bring it in. This, however, was unsat 

 isfactory, for it did not seem probable that the shepherd 

 would have gone off for this purpose, when he should have 

 been away with his sheep an hour or two earlier. Stepping 

 outside the door of the cabin the Scout took another long 

 look up and down the valley, and while he was doing so, saw 

 the Miner appear on foot out of the creek bed, scarcely half 

 a mile from where he stood. Really the puzzle was becom- 

 ing more and more intricate. Why should the Miner be 

 walking? In a few moments the two met at the door of the 

 cabin, exchanged salutations, stepped inside and sat down. 

 The Miner bore a very grave countenance, and Scout waited 

 for him to speak. He said ; 



■Scout. I am afraid that I have lost my horse. It hap- 

 pened in this way. I was coming back last night from the 

 hills and rode down the second creek above here ju3t at dusk. 

 By the tim» I reached the main stream it was nearly dark. 

 I "started to cross the valley in an open, level place, and was 

 riding quietly along when suddenly the horse went down half 

 up his body in a mud hole. He floundered two or three 



