THE RANCHERS 



287 



There was a thin crescent moon in 

 the heavens when we made our prepara- 

 tions at the ranch, and these were 

 simple. Little flat miners' lamps filled 

 with seal-oil were hooked in our hats, 

 and shields cut out of a kerosene can 

 fastened beneath so as to project the 

 light clear of the man and leave him in- 

 visible in the shadow. Then we sat 

 smoking until darkness should come. 

 Appleby's bull had been at work again, 

 and though Jack afterwards told me he 

 had nothing but kindly thoughts tow- 

 ards every body in his mind just then, I 

 was a little dubious about believing 

 him. The windows were open, and the 

 drowsy fragrance of the firs came in. 

 The moon swung low above their 

 fretted spires, and sitting by the win- 

 dow I found the harmonies of silver, 

 ebony and blue more inspiriting than 

 the interior of the log-walled room, 

 where old boots, torn clothes, harness 

 and axes lay strewn in picturesque con- 

 fusion. Jack and I worked fourteen 

 hours a day, and had not much time for 

 amenities. At last the moon dipped, 

 and, rising, Jack threw away one of 

 Heldar's good cigars. 



"I think," he said, "it is time to begin." 



"I'm indebted to you both," said Hel- 

 dar. "Between ourselves, however, I 

 hope Major Appleby will not hear of 

 this expedition. He seems to have some 

 reason for disliking you." 



"It would be the other way if I were 

 not of a singularly forgiving disposi- 

 tion," said Jack, serenely. 



We went out into the scented night 

 breeze which came down from high 

 above the timber line, chilled by eter- 

 nal snow, and incidentally came near 

 drowning Heldar in the open well. 

 Then we floundered through orchard 

 and garden, where an owl swooped 

 above us on muffled wing ; swung across 

 the clearing, amidst the tall fir stumps 

 where the poor oats had been, and over 

 the split fence into the solemn bush. 

 Here the great conifers stretched their 

 spires of blackness far towards the blue, 

 and Heldar fell into a mud-hole several 

 times. Then we left the forest and 



moved circumspectly out across a 

 swamp which Jack had striven stub- 

 bornly to reclaim. It was, however, 

 first necessary to crawl over a breast- 

 work of fallen trees, or wriggle under 

 them on hands and knees, and then wal- 

 low through a slough, while Heldar ap- 

 peared to heave a sigh of relief when we 

 finally halted waist-deep in harsh grass 

 and poor timothy. 



"This," he said, "is evidently a some- 

 what difficult sporting country, but I 

 would stand a good deal more discom- 

 fort to get a wapiti." 



Now the big wapiti (sometimes and 

 wrongly called elk) did now and then 

 come down from the forests beneath the 

 snow line, but I scarcely expected one 

 of them that night and would have been 

 content with a little wood deer, because 

 venison, tough as bent leather, is better 

 than the bad pork. We lit the pit lamps 

 and Jack gave us our instructions. 



"There are several six-foot drains 

 across this swamp, and they're full of 

 mud. If you fall into any of them get 

 hold of the bank at once," he said. "Go 

 along quietly, and if you see eyes shin- 

 ing, jerk your head like a whirligig, then 

 when the deer come up to see what it is, 

 you can either fire straight between 

 them or a little beneath." 



"Presumably," said Heldar, "you 

 mean their eyes." 



We moved forward, and I heard him 

 blessing the country when once or twice 

 he caught his knee in a rotting branch, 

 while when he plunged forward on 

 hands and knees it took me several min- 

 utes to clean him and his rifle. 



"I don't know if you've seen what 

 sometimes happens to a gun when you 

 fire it with its muzzle full of mud," I 

 said. 



"It seems to me that your kind of 

 sport takes a good deal of getting used 

 to," said Heldar, drily. 



We started again, and presently 

 stopped, at the faintest of whistles from 

 Jack. It was very still and the roar of 

 the snow-fed river vibrating through 

 the forest intensified the hush. Nothing 

 moved in all the blackness, and I started 



