16S 



RECREATION. 



copper. Back to the Snake river and 

 the picture gallery he flew, but time 

 had made many changes. Bushes had 

 grown to trees and water spouts had 

 harrowed up the country. With his 

 failing memory he could only locate 

 a few scattered paintings, and the In- 

 dians were gone, as Chief Joseph, of 

 the Nez Perces, had cleaned up the 

 Shoshone bucks and sold the squaws 

 to the white miners over in the placer 

 diggings. Giles is still out there, try- 

 ing to locate the paint shop. 



We were also trying to find tha£ 

 or anything else that looked as if it 

 would make a mine. We finally ran 

 out of meat, and had to take a trip 

 up to the snow. In less than an hour 

 we had 2 bighorn rams. That night 

 in the cabin, while one of the 

 boys was making dough gods and 

 broiling a few choice pieces of moun- 

 tain sheep to fit in several large appe- 

 tites, the dog, which was a cross 

 between a set of bunks and some gro- 

 ceries, thought he heard something- 

 down in the garden digging up one of 

 his caches, and went out to investigate. 

 His master followed. They returned 

 so rapidly that one went under the 

 table and the other over it. It was 

 several minutes before we found out 

 that the dog had tried to bring a 

 cougar into camp alive and had near- . 

 ly succeeded. 



A few days later, while walking 

 along the river, I saw a mountain 

 sheep standing in a little pool of sun- 

 warmed water. I got quite close to 

 it before either of us was aware of 

 the other's presence. The animal 

 was so low down I concluded she 

 had a lamb near and thought the 

 warm water had taken the curl out 

 of her hairpins, as her horns were 

 nearly straight. What interested me 

 most was the way she was winking 

 her nose, just as a llama in a St. 

 Louis zoo once did before it spit a 

 wad of chewed grass on to my new 

 white shirt and into my eyes. As the 

 sheep and I stood facing each other, 

 I thought I ought to have one of 



those street car health signs hanging 

 to my neck. She was not loaded, 

 however, and soon trotted off up hill, 

 where a monkey could not go with- 

 out climbers. 



If any one doubts the sheep story 

 I shall be pleased to send him the ad- 

 dress of an old hunter and Indian 

 fighter, who doesn't drink, and who 

 says he has seen several such sheep. 

 I don't think anyone will doubt his 

 word when they learn that he is one 

 of the survivors of the 'Dobe Walls 

 fight ; one of the gallant little band 

 that held those mud walls for days 

 and days and several nights against 

 a stampede of Mexicans, Indians and 

 other chopped feed. He had a 

 younger brother with him, and to- 

 gether they were defending a weak 

 spot in the dobe, when the allied 

 forces rammed a hole in it with a log. 

 Anyone who has ever been down in 

 that section without a water bottle, 

 where everything that is not red hot 

 has a hook or a thorn on it, wdl 

 appreciate the log part of this his- 

 tory. When the hole was made, 

 the younger brother was hit by a bul- 

 let, fired probably by a Mexican with 

 his eyes shut. As he fell the elder 

 brother just doubled him up and 

 stuffed him into the hole, thereby 

 stopping the influx of poisoned ar- 

 rows, copper balls, and sand fleas. At 

 that stage of the game the blast of a 

 C sharp bugle was heard, and the al- 

 lied forces started for Mexico. 



After 2 or 3 extra sessions of Con- 

 gress it was decided in Washington 

 that there was trouble in New Mex- 

 ico. Word was sent out to the com- 

 mandant of the nearest post, except 

 the one the hole had been punched 

 with, that he could move, which was 

 ridiculous to him, as he had the gout ; 

 but he sent his able second in com- 

 mand, and they arrived tired and 

 hungry. The human plug was pulled 

 out of the wall and both were mended. 

 The younger brother is telling for- 

 tunes for the miners, the elder telling 

 lies for the drinks. 



