"`The Injun's right; it's _man-root_!' said Garey, picking up some leaves which the Delaware had chopped off. "I recognised a plant well-known to the mountain-men--a rare, but wonderful convolvulus, the _Iponea leptophylla_. The name of `man-root' is given to it by the hunters from the similarity of its root in shape, and sometimes in size, to the body of a man. It is esculent, and serves to sustain human life. "In an instant, half-a-dozen men were upon their knees, chipping and hacking the hard clay, but their hatchets glinted off as from the surface of a rock. "`Look hyar!' cried Garey; `ye're only spoilin' yer tools. Cut down a wheen o' these pine saplin's, and make a fire over him!' "The hint was instantly followed, and in a few minutes a dozen pieces of pine were piled upon the spot, and set on fire. "We stood around the burning branches with eager anticipation. Should the root prove a `full-grown man,' it would make a supper for our whole party; and with the cheering idea of supper, jokes were ventured upon-- the first we had heard for some time--the hunters tickled with the novelty of unearthing the `old man' ready roasted, and speculating whether he would prove a `fat old hoss.' "A hollow crack sounded from above, like the breaking of a dead tree. We looked up. A large object--an animal--was whirling outward and downward from a ledge that projected half-way up the cliff. In an instant it struck the earth, head foremost, with a loud `bump,' and, bounding to the height of several feet, came back with a somersault on its legs, and stood firmly. "An involuntary `hurrah!' broke from the hunters, who all recognised, at a glance, the `Carnero cimmaron,' or `bighorn.' He had cleared the precipice at two leaps, alighting each time on his huge crescent-shaped horns. "For a moment, both parties--hunters and game--seemed equally taken by surprise, and stood eyeing each other in mute wonder. It was but for a moment. The men made a rush for their rifles, and the animal, recovering from his trance of astonishment, tossed back his horns, and bounded across the platform. In a dozen springs he had readied the selvedge of the snow, and plunged into its yielding bank; but, at the same instant, several rifles cracked, and the white wreath was crimsoned behind him. He still kept on, however, leaning and breaking through the drift. "We struck into his track, and followed with the eagerness of hungry wolves. We could tell by the numerous _gouts_ that he was shedding his life-blood, and about fifty paces farther on we found him dead. "A shout apprised our companions of our success, and we had commenced dragging back the prize, when wild cries reached us from the platform,-- the yells of men, the screams of women, mingled with oaths and exclamations of terror!