along a wide valley, I noticed Raymond riding by the side of a younger
squaw, to whom he was addressing various insinuating compliments. All
the old squaws in the neighborhood watched his proceedings in great
admiration, and the girl herself would turn aside her head and laugh.
Just then the old mule thought proper to display her vicious pranks; she
began to rear and plunge most furiously. Raymond was an excellent rider,
and at first he stuck fast in his seat; but the moment after, I saw
the mule's hind-legs flourishing in the air, and my unlucky follower
pitching head foremost over her ears. There was a burst of screams and
laughter from all the women, in which his mistress herself took part,
and Raymond was instantly assailed by such a shower of witticisms, that
he was glad to ride forward out of hearing.

Not long after, as I rode near him, I heard him shouting to me. He was
pointing toward a detached rocky hill that stood in the middle of the
valley before us, and from behind it a long file of elk came out at
full speed and entered an opening in the side of the mountain. They had
scarcely disappeared when whoops and exclamations came from fifty voices
around me. The young men leaped from their horses, flung down their
heavy buffalo robes, and ran at full speed toward the foot of the
nearest mountain. Reynal also broke away at a gallop in the same
direction, "Come on! come on!" he called to us. "Do you see that band of
bighorn up yonder? If there's one of them, there's a hundred!"

In fact, near the summit of the mountain, I could see a large number of
small white objects, moving rapidly upward among the precipices, while
others were filing along its rocky profile. Anxious to see the sport,
I galloped forward, and entering a passage in the side of the mountain,
ascended the loose rocks as far as my horse could carry me. Here I
fastened her to an old pine tree that stood alone, scorching in the sun.
At that moment Raymond called to me from the right that another band of
sheep was close at hand in that direction. I ran up to the top of the
opening, which gave me a full view into the rocky gorge beyond; and
here I plainly saw some fifty or sixty sheep, almost within rifle-shot,
clattering upward among the rocks, and endeavoring, after their usual
custom, to reach the highest point. The naked Indians bounded up lightly
in pursuit. In a moment the game and hunters disappeared. Nothing could
be seen or heard but the occa