ind him. The sun was falling fair upon
his body, and deepened the fern-red colour upon his flanks. I could
note his full round eyes glistening under the golden beam. I was near
enough to bring him down; and, should the rifle prove to have been
properly loaded, I was likely to have for my breakfast the choicest
viand of the mountain region of America. I had raised my piece, sighted
the noble game, and was about to pull trigger, when, to my astonishment,
the animal sprang off from the cliff; and, turning back downward, fell
heavily into the gorge!

When I saw him pitching outward from the rock, I fancied he was making
one of those singular somersaults, frequently practised by the _ovis
ammon_ in descending the ledges of a cliff. But no. Had the descent
been a voluntary one, he would have come down upon his huge elastic
horns, instead of falling as he had done, with the dull sodden sound of
a lifeless body?

I perceived that the bighorn had ceased to live; and the report of a
gun--that rang through the gorge, and was still reverberating from the
cliffs--told the cause of his death. Some hunter, stalking on the other
side, had taken the start, of me! White or red? Which fired the shot?
If an Indian, my head would be in as much danger of losing its skin as
the sheep. If a white man, I might still hope for a breakfast of
broiled mutton. Even a churl might be expected to share with a starving
man; but it was not the quarter in which to encounter a Christian of
that kidney. It was the crack of a rifle. The red man rarely hunts
with the rifle. The arrow is his favourite weapon for game.
Notwithstanding the remoteness from civilisation, the probabilities were
that the hunter was white. He might be one of those attached to the
caravan; or, more likely, a _free_ trapper. I knew that upon several
head tributaries of the Arkansas there were settlements of these
singular men.

From prudential considerations, I kept my place. Screened by the
cotton-woods, I should have an opportunity of deciding the point,
without my presence being suspected. If the hunter should prove to be
an Indian, I could still retreat to my horse without being observed. I
had not long to wait. I heard a noise, as of some one making way
through the bushes. The moment after, a huge wolf-like animal rushed
round the projecting angle of the cliff, and sprang upon the carcase of
the bighorn. At the same instant a voice reached my ears--"Off th