for our party* I was awakened at ten or eleven o*cloek by 
a confusion of sounds and the excited inquiries by Chittenden 
and others as to who could be yelling on the south side of 
the river. At the same moment my ear caught the hoarse yells 
of some one apparently in the greatest excitement. I was on 
my feet in an instant and shouted in reply. It was Tom 
•r 
Cooper, our chief packer. He was yelling, talking and swear¬ 
ing in the most desperate manner, and I could only make out 
that something very disastrous was happening and that our 
help was instantly needed. We seized our rifles and hurried 
out to meet him in the dark woods bordering the river, and 
soon learned that we had possibly escaped what might have been 
a serious disaster. Early in the night as Tom happened to 
be lying awake in his tent he noticed that there was some 
rather unusual disturbance among the herd and presently that 
the bell began to tinkle as if the bell-horse were trotting or 
running. The herd was evidently moving down the valley along 
the river bank. He was up in an instant and after them. 
Steadily they moved away and he followed but found it very 
difficult to get closer to them. He suspected nothing wrong 
only that they had been frightened by a coyote or some other 
wild beast, in which case they would certainly soon stop. Al¬ 
ready he had chased them a mile or more over gorges rocks, 
and through weeds and brush and it seemed they would never 
stop. The perspiration was making him blind and his wind 
was nearly gone. Suddenly all sounds ceased, the bell was 
