Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-09-24

and carefully. and from the peaks
scanning the ground all about with the
field glasses. But we saw no sheep.
and but little sign of them.
Finally we struck the head of long,
winding valley with smooth bottom,
and after cantering down it four or
five miles, came to the river, just after
the cold, pale-red sun had sunk behind
the line Of hills ahead of us. Our
horses were sharp shod, and crossed
the ice without difficulty; and in q
grove of leafless cotton-woods, on the
opposite side, we found the hut for
which we had been making, the cow
boy already inside with the fire
started. Throughout the night the
temperature sank lower and lower.
and 1t was impossible TO keep the
crazy old hut anywhere near freezing
point; the wind whisted through the
chlnks and crannies of the logs, and,
after short and by no means elab-
crate supper. we were glad to cover
down with our great fur coats still on,
under the pile of buffalo robes and
bear skins My sleepingbag came in
very handily and kept me as warm as
possible, in spite of the bitter frost.
We were up and had taken breakfast
next morning by the time the first
streak of dawn had dimmcd the bril-
liancy of the stars. and Immediately
afterwards strobe off on foot, as we
had been hampered by the horses on
the day before. This day. though the
weather had grown even colder, we did
not feel it. for we walked all the while
with Il quick pace, and the climbing
was very hard work. The shoulders
and ledges of the cliffs had become
round and slippery with the ice, and 1t
was no easy eask to move up and
along them, clutching the gun in one
hand, and grasping each little projec
tion with the other.
When on the way back to camp. where
the buttes rose highest and steepest
we came upon fresh tracks, but as 1t
was then late in the afternoon, did not
try to follow them that day. When
near the hut | killed sharptail for
supper, making rather a neat shot, the
bird being eighty yards off. The night
was even colder than the preceding
one, and all signs told us that we
would soon have Il change for the
worse In the weather. which made me
doubly anxious to get Il sheep before
the storm struck us. We determined
that next morning we would take the
horses and make a quick push for the
chain of high buttes where we had
seen the fresh tracks. and hunt them
through with thorough care.
We started in the cold gray of the
morning and pricked rapidly off over
the frozen plain. columns of white
steam rising from the nostrls of the
galloping horses. When we reached
the foot of the hills where we intended
to hunt, and had tcthercd the horses,
the sun had already risen, but it was
evident that the clear weather of fort
night past was over. The air was thick
and haZy, and away off in the north
west towering mass of GrayiSh white
clouds looked like breeder;
every thing boded a storm at no dis
tant date. The country over which we
now hunted was wilder and more
mountainous than any we had yet
struck. High, sharp peaks and ridges
broke off abruptly into narrow gorges
and deep ravineS: they were bare of
all but the scanticst vegetation, save
on some of the sheltered sides where
grew groves of dark pines now laden
down with feathcry snow. The climb
ing was as hard as ever At first we
went straight up the side of the tallest
peak, and then along the knife-lilic
ridge which Joined it with the next.
The ice made the footing very slippery
as we stepped along the lodges or
crawled round the juttinG shoulders.
and we had to look carefully for our
footholdS; while in the cold. thin air
every quick burst we made up a steep
Hill caused US to pant for breath. We
had gone but little way before we
saw fresh signs of the animals we
were after, but it was some time be
fore we came upon the quarry itself.
We left the high ground and de
scending into Il narrow chaSm walked
along its bottom, which was but Il
couple of feet wide. while the sides
After following this for few hundred
yards. we turned Il sharp corner, and
shortly afterward our eyes We're
caught by some grains Of fresh earth
lying on the snow in front of our feet
On the sides, some feet above our
heads, were marks in the snow which
moments glance showed us had been
made by couple of mountain sheep
that had come down one side of the
gorge and had leaped across to the
other, their sharp toes going through
the thin snow and aisplacing the earth
that had fallen to the bottom. The
tracks had evidently been made just
before we rounded the corner, and as
we had been advancing noiselesly on
the snow with the wind in our favor
wa know tbut tho animals could hoyn