202 



RECREA TION. 



later, it being quite dark, K. and I 

 joined each other and in a few minutes 

 W. came. He had killed three goats, 

 two of which in their death struggles had 

 fallen over a precipice. Dressing the 

 one, he cached it until the next morning, 

 it then being too dark to safely carry it 

 to where we were. 



We were not long in dispensing with 

 what food we had, and rolling ourselves 

 in our blankets slept soundly. On wak- 

 ing the next morning we found that we 

 had all been sleeping but a few feet 

 above a "jump off" of about 30 or 40 

 feet ; but being quiet sleepers, passed the 

 night in safety. W. went after his goat 

 and returned an hour later with the hide 

 and most of the meat,when we all started 

 back to camp, arriving there at noon. 



The next evening W. and K. re- 

 turned to the same grounds, when K. 

 succeeded in adding a big doe to the 

 list, making honors easy. Our supplies 

 were getting scarce, and being satisfied 

 with our success, we decided to return 

 home ; so the next morning found 

 us on our way down the mountain to 

 Ruth creek camp. We came down in 

 good time, the slippery ground being an 

 excellent substitute for a toboggan 

 slide. It was indeed amusing (to the 

 others) to see your feet go out from 

 under you, and to go sliding down the 

 mountain at a terrifific pace, depending 

 on the chance of meeting some tree or 

 shrub to stop you. In my early boy- 



hood, while staying in the High Sierras 

 of California in winter, I learned the 

 use of skis, or Norwegian snowshoes, 

 as they were then called, and as I re- 

 member it, the sensation was similar to 

 this sliding. The speed of the latter, 

 in races, often reached a mile a minute 

 or over, but I think with a good leather, 

 or, still better, copper bottomed seat, to 

 my trousers, I would bet on the fir 

 needles against the snow shoes every 

 time. We all took our turn at it, and in 

 some instances narrowly escaped seri- 

 ous injury. The danger was, not in the 

 falling, but in the "fetching up." 



On reaching camp, we were not long 

 in catching the horses and making a 

 start. We would have made rapid pro- 

 gress had we not been compelled to cut 

 our way through about five miles, in 

 which the forest fires had been raging, 

 and had destroyed the trail by felling trees 

 across it. In many places the turf was 

 still burning under foot, but we luckily 

 got through without damage to the 

 horses or ourselves. We struck the 

 Nooksack at the second ford, and cross- 

 ing it camped on the other side ; and 

 the next morning pushed on, reaching 

 the point where we had left our wagon 

 by noon. That afternoon and the next 

 day we covered the balance of the dis- 

 tance, and in driving through town 

 presented such a disreputable appear- 

 ance that even our most intimate friends 

 failed to recognize us. 



