st to be done. Should they go up the ravine, and endeavour to reach
the summit? This would only be carrying out their original intention,
and they would have started upward without hesitation, had they not
discovered the bear-tracks. Seeing these, however, had put a new aspect
on the matter. If there were grizzly bears in the neighbourhood--and
this seemed very certain--the ravine was the most likely place to find
them in. Its thick underwood, with the numerous crevices that, like
caverns, appeared among the rocks on each side, were just such places as
grizzly bears delight in. Their lair might be in this very ravine, and
it would be a dangerous business to stumble upon it in passing up. But
our young hunters were full of courage. They had a keen desire to
ascend the butte--partly out of curiosity, and partly to get a shot at
the big-horns--and this desire triumphed over prudence. They resolved
to carry through what they had begun; and at length commenced to ascend,
Basil taking the lead.

It was severe climbing withal; and now and again they had to pull
themselves up by laying hold of branches and roots. They noticed that
_there was a trail_, which they followed upward. No doubt the
big-horns, or some other animals, had made this trail as they passed up
and down--though it was only distinguishable by a slight discoloration
upon the rocks, and by the earth being packed firmer in some places, as
if by hoofs or feet. A little better than half-way up the boys observed
a fissure, like the entrance of a cave, on one side of the ravine and
close to the trail. Around this the earthy colour of the rocks, the
absence of herbage, and the paddled appearance of the soil, suggested
the idea that some animal made its den there. They passed it in
silence, climbing as quickly as the nature of the ground would allow
them, and looking backwards with fear. In a few minutes they had
reached the escarpment of the butte; and, raising themselves by their
hands they peeped over, and at once obtained a view of its whole
table-like summit.

It was, as they had conjectured, perfectly level upon the top, with an
area-surface of about twenty or thirty acres. Pine-trees grew thinly
over it, with here and there a bush or two of acacia, the species known
as "mezquite." There was plenty of grass among the trees, and large
tussocks of "bunch grass" mingling with cactus and aloe plants, formed a
species of undergrowth. This, however, w