RECREA TION. 



199 



I found that I had been badly bruised, 

 but otherwise, came out in good shape. 

 My four footed companion in misery 

 was picked up about a quarter of a mile 

 below the ford, on the same side we 

 started in on, and the boys soon manag- 

 ed to rope him, and the other horse 

 across — a scheme, that would have saved 

 us a great deal of trouble had we adopt- 

 ed it in the first place. 



The next morning we resumed our 

 journey. The travelling was fair, 

 though in places steep. We were be- 

 ginning to get a good view of the snow 

 capped peaks to the north-east of Mount 

 Baker, in which direction we were 

 travelling. Now and then a rocky peak, 

 too steep to hold snow, would loom up 

 and it was in such places as this we ex- 

 pected to get our goats. About noon 

 we pitched camp on Ruth creek. 



Early the next morning, W., C. and I 

 took our rifles and started up the moun- 

 tain, K. having volunteered to stay in 

 camp during the first day, to keep an 

 eye on the horses. As soon as we got 

 among the fir timber, the climbing was 

 difficult, the ground being covered with 

 fir needles and so slippery as to make 

 it almost impossible to obtain a footing. 

 About half way up the mountain we 

 came to a high, rocky ledge, seemingly 

 running the whole length of the ridge, 

 and not seeing any way of getting 

 around it, had to do some risky climb- 

 ing. Shortly after scaling this ledge, 

 we came out on a beautiful, grassy 

 slope, reaching up to the snow line. 

 Here we were saluted by great num- 

 bers of whistling marmots, which, upon 

 seeing us, scampered away to their 

 holes, where, sitting erect, they stared at 

 us as if they had never before seen a 

 man. 



Finally, reaching the summit, we 

 rested and feasted our eyes on as fine 

 scenery as I ever beheld. Mount 

 Baker, Mount Shuksan and Mount 

 Ruth loomed up to the south of us, 

 while to the north, there seemed to be 

 no limit to the number of rugged, snow- 

 capped peaks. My chief regret was 

 my inability to make a sketch of this 

 grand scene. Suddenly remembering that 

 we had come rather in search of goats 

 than of scenery, we separated and 

 started east along the crest of the main 

 ridge. 



About 9 o'clock, when we had given 



up seeing C. until next morning, in 

 he walked, with a woe-begone ex- 

 pression on his face. He had made 

 a hard day's tramp. He was drenched 

 to the skin, having waded down the 

 down the creek a portion of the way. 

 Just as he reached camp and before he 

 had an opportunity of resting himself, 

 we all began to question him regarding 

 his luck, and finally asked him if he 

 had seen many fresh tracks. He re- 

 plied, a little out of patience, that all 

 he had seen in that line, was a blank 

 fool's track, and that he made that. 



The next morning we all got an early 

 start with light packs, having cached 

 everything we did not need, and fol- 

 lowed, as near as possible, our trail of 

 the morning previous. After four hours' 

 of hard climbing, we selected a bunch of 

 pines, close to a stream of snow water 

 and a quarter of a mile from the sum- 

 mit, for our camp. 



We had just thrown our packs off, when 

 C, who had been taking a look with the 

 field glass, startled us with the cry of 

 " Bear ahoy ! " and, sure enough, 

 about 800 yards to the west was a big 

 cinnamon, making rapid headway for 

 the summit. Our only chance was to 

 try and head him off ; so W. and I, 

 taking our rifles, started on a run for a 

 point a little this side of where he was 

 evidently heading for ; keeping our- 

 selves from view as much as possible. 

 On reaching the summit, we were 

 greatly disappointed at seeing his tracks 

 in the snow, making down on the other 

 side. 



We seated ourselves on a rock, and 

 taking the glass again, I saw, not over 

 200 yards above us, on the same ridge, 

 three mountain goats examining us 

 curiously, while moving along on the 

 summit. Knowing that any motion on 

 our part would frighten them, I whis- 

 pered to W. not to move a muscle, and 

 as soon as they were out of sight, we 

 took the other side of the ridge, run- 

 ning as fast as possible for a hundred 

 yards or so. Then cautiously looking 

 over we saw that they had lost no time 

 and were several hundred yards beyond, 

 but traveling slowly. Making another 

 dash we climbed up behind a ledge 

 which gave us good cover, and, on look- 

 ing over, saw one old doe, broad side 

 to us, about 250 yards away. The 

 other two were slowly making their way 



