The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-02-18

light pick and shovel and some grub,
replied, passing out.
Near the door were tied our two dee
hounds, Zip and Keene, and, as
stopped to pat their heads, both begge
piteously, in dog fashion. to be take
along.
mo. no, old boys. no hunting tc
day." said, soothingly. And the in
telligent creatures, seeing that did no
carry a gun, soon ceased to grumblc.
1t was the 4th of July, 1869. w
had been for some time engaged il
silver mining near Argentine Gulch
Col, and were living in stout log hut
OF which, in the absence of other claim
ants, we had taken peaceable posses
sion. We could not think, however
OF prosecuting our usual work on tn.
Fourth; and jim, not feeling like join
ing me, had decided to 90 off pros
pccting alone.
Don't lose yourself, old man. It's q
mighty easy thing to do" he called
out, as l walked away; while the
hounds gave me cheerful send-off in
the shape of parting howl
We'll, no. Jim, I'm not quite So
green as all that. But if I'm not back
tonight maybe you'll look me up," I
laughingly rejoined; the point of the
joke lying in the fact that 1 was an old
mountaineer and Jim a comparative
tenderfoot, though one of the best fell
lows in the world.
Prospecting or, indeed, travelling on
foot at all in the heart of the Rockies,
is exceedingly hard work, not only be-
cause OF the physical obstacles, but
also from the unsatisfying nature of
the highly raretied air, of which one is
obliged to inhale vast quantities in
order to get oxygen enough to sustain
life. Hence, after four hours of in
cessant toll, by which time l had got
above timber line. was glad to sit
down by little spring to rest.
so far, though making many tests, 1
mad found no indications of a paying
lead; but was not going to give up
nope, and, after making hearty din
ner from the bre ad ard cold meat in
my haversack, scaled the heights to
my right, determined TO find nv wav
home by another route. Twas easier
SAID than done, for, on descending the |
ridge, came into an utterly strange |
neighborhood, and shortly found N.Y. |
SELF wandering in wild labyrinth of |
intricate bowlder-strewn gullies and
Irowning precipices, from which extri-
cation seemed hopeless, as every at.
empt to travel in direct line only
ended to confuse me more and more
For two hours, spent in desperate ex-
rtion' l tried vainly to thread the
nazes, and finally had to confess that /
vas lost Then l thought to retrace
ny steps to the old trail and take a
resh start, but this, too, found impos-
IDLE. had, somehow, got complete
= turned round;" and, despite all
easoning to the contrary, could not
onvince myself that the sun, of which |
aught occasional glimpses, was in the
ight place. e
"Pshaw, I'll get out all right!' I said
loud, as II arguing the point with
'mpanion, "but can lido it this after /
DON? 1t not. Jim will have the laugh a
me, and can't stand that" q
At last, twisting and turning, pluup-
q climbing and scram bling into. d
'ound and over ravines and rocks. | d
anaged to get down to tim ber-liue u
rain, but OF how far had come or of a
mere l now was l had not the least
ca Two things, however, | did II
low: That the shades of evening g
ere coming on and that my chance of CT
aching camp that night was hardly CT
orth reckoning.
No glimpse of sunlight now. The Il
ep shadows of the lofty peaks were pr
around me, and IN another hour the e.
oomy solitude would be wrapped in at
rkness. The night, too, at that alti-
tie, would be unpleasantly cold. I &C
,st prepare for it in time.
had come to a little valley hedped tn
oy great pieces of detached rock. pc
q there were numerous gnarled hi
IT'S, dry, broken limbs and other dc
ailable fuel scattered around. De-
mining to so no further, com. Gil
need to gather a heap of these. in ia
ding to keep up big fire until WI
rning. picked up one armful of I'M
all STUN and then stepped across to
ack specially dense pile which lay du
sc against the base of an overhanc- he
cliff. Selling hold of a protrudinc sh,
* gave strong pull and brought tn,
vn the whole mass. ter
hen l saw behind the rubbish was lor
mouth of a rough, shallow cave; hel
!, curious to see what it contained. lar
Try foolishly stopped down and went me
on,
! nrst could distinguish nothing; A
when my eyes became accustomed thr
ne dim light saw, huddled up in ha,
corner and quite motionless, two hic
'y-look'ng objects about the size of ant
ICONS; and. on going closer, found the
they were neither more or less 9th
a grizzly bear cubs. adv
soon as the little creatures were ane
'inced that / had seen them, they II
ched up for a fight, but picked up to |
and, in spite of its furious strur- one