The Press., 1906-04-04

and color. They appear to be short
but steep range of solid marble, one
side forming sheer precipice of per-
haps two thousand feet. and the othe r
side an angle sufficiently steep to make
riding hazardous, for here. as in many
other places, misstep on the part of
horse would send both horse and
rider rolling for the better part of a
mile. Many a mile | rode with toes
barely touching the stirrups prepared
for an instant spring in case of acct
dent
Late in the afternoon we reached
''Big H Camp in Pleasant Valley,
having made no stop since starting,
and we were a decidedly tired ard
hungry bunch. The youngest in the
party, boy of nineteen, lay down as
soon as we reached camp, sick with a
hungry headache, and none of us
could run very fast. The next morn-
ing "Siskiyou Joe" and l went out
for camp. meat. After climbing what
seemed the biggest mountain in the
world we hunted along the ridge for
several miles and finally started down
into the valley, intending to hunt
back to camp. When nearly down,
and stopping to rest on log. my at
like deer, but he stood so motion
less could not believe it to be one
covered it once or twice with my
rifle and then pointed it out to Joe.
1t was partially concealed by trees,
but when he finally saw it he whis-
pered excitedly and iercely, Its a
deer. Shoot!' So, in the words of
the story paper, 1 raised my "trusty
rifle,'' covered the spot behind the
shoulder and pulled. 1t proved to be
deer, for he ran seventy yards before
falling dead with big piece torn out
of one side of his heart 1t was a
long, hard tramp back to camp, for
the deer was big one, but "Siskioyu
Joe" insisted in carrying it the whole
distance
Our camp proved to be in a poor
game country, for my deer was the
only one shot there, and in couple
of days we moved back ten o. twel' e
miles to big Cutihi valley. He e
game was more scarce, although we
heard the mountain lions serenade.
Surrounding this valley the country
was covered with chaparral, buck
bush and manzineta, making hunting
almost impossibl so we moved again,
this time going to Tom Lake, -
and here we remained until the home
ward journey was begun in earnest.
This location is worthy of a moment S
notice. Tom Lake. is in a small
valley, of perhaps two hundred acres.
It is like a cup, with mountains all
around, with one opening only run
ming to the north of it, and it was
down this canon that We hunted.
Getting in and out of the big noun
tain cup was simply fright There
were two trails by which to do so, one
bad and the other much worse. As
the latter was much nearer and would
save time, this course was elected.
Ralph, our youngster, and l left the
party here and entered the valley on
foot, hoping to get bear, as we were
in good bear country, and so lost the
excitement the rest experienced-we
also lost the bear.
The most difficult part of the de-
scent consisted in getting the heavily
packed horses down a series of three
stone steps. These steps are about
three feet deep, and while the horses
fore feet strike solid rock it is at
steep angle, and the third step ends
with a sharp turn to the right, and
then two more steps. The first horse
started to go down then changed his
mind, jumped upon a short prcmotory
of rock-and could go no further, for
he found himself standing up in the
air, with about fifteen feet of space to
the first landing place and more to the
second, with no way of retreat except
by the way he came, and standing all
four feet on ''place the size of your
ldG. l. H6 IOIe0 I6dIlL6u Ills his
take and Immediately became the
meekest of animals To make a long
story short, the boys tied rope to
the saddle, and took turn about a
tree. Then they crawled out and IN
packed the animal, and the united ef-
forts of the three pulled the horse to
a safe footing. By attaching a rore
to the saddle of each horse in turn
they were safely lowered over and
around the dangerous point. This
camp was happily located in a good
game country, and before we left sue
ceeded in killing seven deer, making
eight for the trip.
In leaving "Tom's Lake" we took
the less hazardous trail, but it was an
arduous task getting out. One place
was so steep that the pack was actual
ly beginning to lift one horses fore
feet from the ground, and had not
Walter, who was leading him. throw
his weight on the halter, he would
have toppled over backwards. No &C.
cident worthy of the name befell us,
and we reached home after a most en-
joyable and profitable trip of seven
teen days.
1 was most happy in my compan-
ions. Ralph, the youngster, was all
that could be desired in camp. Isis
kiyou Joe," who had been born in
that country, acted as guide. Walter
had smelled powder in Cuba and could
quote Scott by the yard. Charlie
made no boasts, but knew everything
about camp life, and was en- all round
"good fellow
When you New Englanders get tired
of bank and office, sick of store and |
mill, go forth under the open sky
and list to natures teaching in Cal |