After the story we sat awhile on the summit to look out over the
plains, and then descended into a basin, a beautiful amphitheater with
a peaceful little lake, clusters of pines and a moist green meadow with
a sheep-lick. In the meadow were golden snow lilies, sky-blue
forget-me-nots, and the rose-red monkey flower, growing close to a cold
brook that came leaping down the mountain. At the head of the basin was
a lofty rock wall, with silvery waterfalls and a great gray glacier,
close to the saw-tooth cliffs of the Continental Divide.
Then we lay silently behind some stunted spruces and watched the
sheep-lick for game. We saw some conies on the slide-rock, a timid
little rabbit-people who live among the rocks at timber-line. They
scampered about, squeaking and running back and forth with grass and
flowers in their mouths. From a rock-cliff a hoary marmot came waddling
across a barren slope to his feeding grounds on the green turf. He was
gray in color, with short legs and heavy body and a white band round
his nose.
The only sound was the singing of a waterfall at the head of the lake,
and of the brook flowing softly through the grass. Suddenly a stone
came tumbling down, followed by a rattling of shale; a small ram came
into view, making his way leisurely along the mountain, stopping now
and then to take a bite of grass. The spot where he had chosen to feed
was beyond our range and without cover to approach. But the wind was
favorable. Then Little Creek crawled among the rocks to get near enough
for a shot. Finally I saw him lie flat, and with elbows resting on the
ground, he took aim and fired. The ram leaped into the air and started
up the mountain with wonderful speed. At several more shots it scarcely
seemed to touch the ground, but bounded along and disappeared among the
high cliffs.
Then we left the basin and followed the gorge of a mountain torrent,
which descended into the valley. We came down through a series of parks
and meadows with many kinds of grasses, the brightest greens I have
ever seen; and an open forest of alpine firs, with long-pointed crowns
and blue-green leaves and bark so pale and smooth their trunks seemed
carved from stone.
We came upon two black-tail deer, a buck and a doe, and, as we had the
wind in our favor, we approached under cover of the forest to within
one hundred yards. Little Creek rested his rifle in a forked tree and
fired. At the shot the buck stretched out his limbs and bounded away,
running in a zigzag course, then round and round until he fell dead.
And, after cutting up the carcass, we took the meat back to camp.
By our camp-fire my Indian friends talked about a trip to Canada.
Nomads by nature, they loved to wander and were happier on the move.
They liked trips of all kinds, to hunt and fish and visit friends; but
most of all to go among their northern relatives, the Bloods, North
Piegans and North Blackfoot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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