A MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY 



BY G. D. WARREN. 



With two drawings by Bellmore Brown 



N a dreary Novem- 

 ber day, I sat in 

 my rude cabin near 

 "Jackson's Hole," 

 Wyo., polishing my 

 30-30 Winchester, 

 grumbling the while 

 with impatience at 

 the very bad pros- 

 pect of a try at big 

 game. The sun was 

 already past the 

 meridian, and as this was my last day 

 in the woods, the thought of being 

 stormed in during the very best part 

 of the day did not tally with former 

 calculations. But my lucky star was 

 not yet set, and about 3 o'clock the 

 rain stopped and there were visible 

 breaks in the clouds, and it seemed as 

 though I would be able to carry out 

 my plans of watching a deer trail which 

 crossed a favorable part of the canon 

 within half a mile of my pine bough 

 habitation. Noting the change in the 

 weather, I at once made a "flap-jack," 

 prepared some canned ham and a cup 

 of coffee, and hastily swallowing this 

 lunch, was soon astride of my horse, 

 a splendid mount and my only com- 

 panion ; then with my trusty 30-30, I 

 sallied forth in search of game. 



On my arrival at the trail I found 

 a convenient arroyo surrounded by 

 underbrush, where I could picket Na- 

 poleon, my horse, out of sight and out 

 of harm's way. This done, I cautiously 

 made my way back to a cleft in a 

 towering rock. The trail — which was 

 the only crossing for several miles 

 down the canon — ran within twenty 

 yards of the place, and from my posi- 

 tion I could command a view of it for 

 some forty rods in either direction. 

 Here I concealed myself and lay in 

 wait. 



I sat in this position from about half 



past four until nearly six o'clock, with- 

 out seeing or hearing anything to 

 smack of game, and concluded to ease 

 my nerves and pass the time by taking 

 a draw at my pipe, as my position was 

 favored by the wind coming from the 

 trail toward me, which would carry the 

 smoke in the opposite direction and pre- 

 vent my presence being thus discov- 

 ered by any possible denizen of the 

 Rockies. It was not long before I had 

 my briar going, and while I was right in 

 supposing that I was immune from the 

 acute olfactory nerves of animals 

 crossing the canon by the trail, yet I 

 had not taken into account that while 

 I was snugly cached, the smoke which 

 I was emitting was rolling up the sides 

 of the rock and making itself very 

 much in evidence before being wafted 

 away and disseminated into invisibility 

 back of me. 



I had been smoking probably some 

 fifteen minutes when I detected the 

 light, well-known tip, tip, tip of a deer 

 which was circumventing my stand, by 

 leaving the trail and climbing the side 

 of the mountain, where he could get the 

 wind from my direction. On hearing 

 the light foot-fall of the deer, I became 

 all attention and "stowed" my pipe 

 and set the hammer of my rifle. How- 

 ever, there was no occasion for this 

 latter move, as the rocky walls rose 

 some fifteen feet on each side, and by 

 leaving the trail, the deer had now 

 reached a position which made it 

 necessary for me to go out in front of 

 the rock where I had come in if I hoped 

 to get sight of the game. But this 

 would make my position known to the 

 animal, which I had no doubt was then 

 standing in some well sheltered spot 

 with nose, eyes and ears alert to catch 

 the least move on my part, in which 

 case it would be gone before I could 

 take good aim ; so I sat still and listened 



365 



