352 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
professional skin hunters who were camped within 
a mile of my position, consisting of two partners, 
Big Bill and Bob Stewart. The latter went by the 
name of Little Bob, in contrast to his enormous 
companion. Bob was of Scotch extraction ; he was 
about 5 feet 5 inches in height, very slight, and as 
active as a cat. In his knowledge of every living 
creature upon the mountains he was perfect; from 
the smallest insect to the largest beast he was an 
infallible authority. Bob was a trapper and hunter ; 
he followed the different branches of these pursuits 
according to the seasons ; at one time he would be 
trapping beavers and red foxes, at another he would 
be shooting deer for the value of their hides. This- 
cruel and wasteful practice I shall speak of in 
another portion of this work. 
His only weapon was a single-barrelled Sharp’s 
•450 rifle, and he possessed the most lovely mare, 
beautifully trained for shooting, and not exceeding 
14:^ hands in height. Little Bob, on his little mare, 
would have formed a picture. On one occasion I 
had returned to camp a little after 5.30 p.m., and as 
the sun sank low, the deep shadows of the hills 
darkened our side of the narrow glen, and by 
6 o’clock we were reduced to a dim twilight. 
Presently, in this uninhabited region, a figure halted 
within 15 paces of our tent, which was evidently 
Bob Stewart, mounted upon some peculiar animal 
of enormous bulk, but with a very lovely high¬ 
bred-looking head. This was Bob’s pretty mare, 
loaded, and most carefully packed with the trophies 
