nd
we'd like very much to make a hunt here. There isn't any hurry,
anyway."

"S'pose you'll got some of those sheep," ventured Moise, "he'll be
best for eat of anything there is--no meat better in the world than
those beeghorn."

"Well," said John, "why don't we start out to get one? This looks like
a good country, all right."

"That suits me," added Rob. "Jess, do you want to go along?"

Alex looked at Jesse before he answered, and saw that while he was
tall for his age, he was rather thin and not so strong as the other
boys, being somewhat younger.

"I think Mr. Jess would better stay in camp," said he. "He can help
Moise finish drying his fish, and maybe they can go down and have a
look at the rapids from the shore. We others can go over east for a
hunt. I've a notion that the mountains that way are better."

"It looks like a long way over," said Rob. "Can we make it out and
back to camp to-day?"

"Hardly; I think we'll have to lie out at least one night, maybe more,
to be sure of getting the sheep."

"Fine!" said John; "that suits me. We wouldn't need to take along any
tent, just a blanket and a little something to eat--I suppose we could
carry enough." He looked so longingly at Moise's pots and pans that
everybody laughed at him once more.

"All right," said Alex, "we'll go."

The old hunter now busied himself making ready their scant supplies.
He took a little bag of flour, with some salt, one or two of the
cooked fish which remained, and a small piece of bacon. These he
rolled up in a piece of canvas, which he placed on his pack-straps. He
asked the boys if they thought they could get on with a single
blanket, and when they agreed to this he took Rob's blanket, folded
it, rolled it also in canvas, and tied it all tight with a rope, the
ends of his tump-strap sticking out, serving him for his way of
packing, which was to put the tump-strap across his head.

"It's not a very big bundle," said he. "You young gentlemen need take
nothing but your rifles and your ammunition. I don't need any blanket
for a night or so. What little we've got will seem heavy enough before
we get up there in the hills."

"Now, Moise, listen," he added. "You're to stay in this camp until we
get back, no matter how long it is, and you're not to be uneasy if we
don't come back for two or three days. Don't go out in the boats with
Mr. Jess until we get back. Give him three meals a day, and finish up
drying your trout."

"All