off our horses except to tighten
the girths, we ate our lunch with our bridles knotted over saddle
horns, started over the level at full gallops, leapt over trunks of
trees, dashed madly down hillsides rugged with rocks or strewn with
great stones, forded deep, rapid streams, saw lovely lakes and views of
surpassing magnificence, startled a herd of elk with uncouth heads and
in the chase, which for some time was unsuccessful, rode to the very
base of Long's Peak, over 14,000 feet high, where the bright waters of
one of the affluents of the Platte burst from the eternal snows through
a canyon of indescribable majesty. The sun was hot, but at a height of
over 8,000 feet the air was crisp and frosty, and the enjoyment of
riding a good horse under such exhilarating circumstances was extreme.
In one wild part of the ride we had to come down a steep hill, thickly
wooded with pitch pines, to leap over the fallen timber, and steer
between the dead and living trees to avoid being "snagged," or bringing
down a heavy dead branch by an unwary touch.

Emerging from this, we caught sight of a thousand Texan cattle feeding
in a valley below. The leaders scented us, and, taking fright, began
to move off in the direction of the open "park," while we were about a
mile from and above them. "Head them off, boys!" our leader shouted;
"all aboard; hark away!" and with something of the "High, tally-ho in
the morning!" away we all went at a hard gallop down-hill. I could not
hold my excited animal; down-hill, up-hill, leaping over rocks and
timber, faster every moment the pace grew, and still the leader
shouted, "Go it, boys!" and the horses dashed on at racing speed,
passing and repassing each other, till my small but beautiful bay was
keeping pace with the immense strides of the great buck-jumper ridden
by "the finest rider in North Americay," and I was dizzied and
breathless by the pace at which we were going. A shorter time than it
takes to tell it brought us close to and abreast of the surge of
cattle. The bovine waves were a grand sight: huge bulls, shaped like
buffaloes, bellowed and roared, and with great oxen and cows with
yearling calves, galloped like racers, and we galloped alongside of
them, and shortly headed them and in no time were placed as sentinels
across the mouth of the valley. It seemed like infantry awaiting the
shock of cavalry as we stood as still as our excited horses would
allow. I almost quailed as the sur