536 



RECREATION 



wolves, which looked to be not more than 

 two or three hours old. We followed them for 

 over a mile and then gave them up, as they 

 were taking us farther away from camp at 

 every step, and we were beginning to feel 

 tired and hungry. Night was closing in on 

 us quickly, and it was getting darker and 

 darker, when at last I suggested to the gritty 

 old hunter that we should stop and light a 

 fire and stay by it until the dark clouds 

 might blow off. Hungry and thirsty as we 

 were, a good, warm fire was very acceptable. 

 We sat there wondering in which direction 

 our camp was. 



The stars were now shining in the blue 

 and frosty looking sky, and the dense dark- 

 ness was turning into light, when Andrew 

 tapped me on the shoulder and said in a 

 low voice, "Maakin, maakin" meaning 

 the moon. He was right, for far in the dis- 

 tance we could see its golden light peering 

 through the tree tops as though sent for us 

 alone. We could now see our position better, 

 and after wandering through the woods for 

 half an hour or so, we came upon our tracks 

 where we had started from camp in the 

 morning. From here we did not have far 

 to go, as in a very few minutes we were once 

 more back in our good old camp, where we 

 soon partook of a hearty meal and talked 

 over all the exciting events which we had 

 gone through during the day. 



In the morning we woke feeling refreshed 

 after a sound sleep. We now thought we 

 would try to find the horses, which we soon 

 did, for they had not gone half a mile from 

 camp, and were all pawing in the snow to 

 get at some swamp hay which they had dis- 

 covered on a small meadow. We caught 

 one of them and led him down the hillside 

 to the camp for the purpose of bringing 

 home the two deer we had killed the day 

 before. At twelve o'clock we had them 

 down, and Andrew delighted in roasting 

 some ribs for lunch, on a stick which he had 

 made pointed for the purpose. 



At one o'clock we started up the moun- 

 tain, leading Buckskin, the old packhorse, 

 back to his comrades on the meadow; we 

 then kept on up, going in the opposite direc- 

 tion to which we had seen the fight. We 

 saw nothing but the skeleton of a deer which 

 had been attacked by two mountain lions, or, 

 in other word, "cougar." The tracks looked 



old, as they were slightly covered with snow 

 from the week before, but we could plainly 

 see where the snow had been trampled down 

 for yards round in the terrible struggle. We 

 did not go much farther, as it was now get- 

 ting late, and we were neither of us very 

 anxious to stay half the night under a tree, 

 as we had done the night before. When sup- 

 per was finished, in talking over our plans 

 we decided to move still farther down the 

 valley to an old Indian camping ground, 

 well-known to both of us, where there was a 

 mountain spring trickling down over the 

 icy boulders and gracefully flowing over a 

 fall with its foaming spray dashing on the 

 rocks forty feet below. At night, with the 

 twinkling stars and the silvery moon beam- 

 ing through the tall pines in the dark canyon 

 below, it seemed to me like a beautiful 

 dream as I sat for hours gazing at the most 

 glorious sight. 



In the morning we made a start, and on 

 reaching our new camping ground (after a 

 hard trip) we were not sorry to be settled 

 again. The outfit was now running very 

 short of tea, only having enough for the next 

 meal, but luckily Andrew knew where there 

 was a clump of Indian tea, commonly known 

 as Hudson Bay tea, that was growing not 

 far away, and it was not long before we had 

 in enough to do us for the rest of the trip. 

 In the morning we rose early, and therefore 

 got a good start a little before daybreak for 

 a good day's hunt. We separated, each 

 going in an opposite direction. 



Before we had been separated long I 

 heard the reports of five rifle shots, which 

 told me that Andrew must have gotten onto a 

 big band of deer. I kept on walking, with 

 a keen eye glancing in and out of the closely- 

 growing saplings of fir, expecting at any 

 minute to see a frightened deer bound out 

 from beneath its cover. I had walked slowly 

 and carefully for several miles, not even 

 breaking a dead twig under my feet for fear 

 of giving the alarm to anything that might 

 be close in front of me. I could now see 

 where four deer had slowly climbed up a 

 steep gravel slide not far in front, and on 

 closely investigating the tracks I at last 

 came to the conclusion that I could not be 

 more than half a mile behind them. So with 

 my rifle in my right hand and hat in my left 

 I started up the slide at a good pace, and on 



