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"The river was now about a mile wide, less rapid, and more divided by islands, and bars of sand and mud, than heretofore; the low grounds, too, were more extensive, and contained a greater quantity of cottonwood, ash, and willows. On the northwest was a low, level plain, and on the southeast some rugged hills, on which we saw, without being able to approach them, some bighorns.
I have myself seen small game licks, the largest not a hundred feet across, in the Selkirks, Coeur d'Alenes, and Bighorns, the ground all tramped up by the hoofs of elk, deer, wild sheep, and white goats, with deep furrows and hollows where the saline deposits existed. In the Little Missouri Bad Lands there is so much mineral matter that no regular licks are needed.
"I suppose there isn't any law against killing bears," said Rob, "but how about bighorns? I thought they were protected by law." "We'll talk about that after a while," Alex answered. "Of course, no one would want to kill beaver at this time of year, no matter what the law was, because the fur is not good."
Deer, however, are by no means abundant, and antelopes, as well as bighorns, are scarce." It is noticeable that the explorers, all along their route, gave to streams, rocks, mountains, and other natural features of the country many names that appear to us meaningless and trifling.
He was as silent as a feather floating with the wind. The ewes and even the old bighorns were unconscious of his presence over them. Most of the lambs were lying close to their mothers, but two or three of a livelier turn of mind were wandering over the shale and occasionally hopping about in playful frolic. The eagle's fierce eyes were upon these youngsters.
His remaining absolutely alone in the wilderness for such a length of time is often spoken of with wonder; but here again Boon stands merely as the backwoods type, not as an exception. To this day many hunters in the Rockies do the same. In 1880, two men whom I knew wintered to the west of the Bighorns, 150 miles from any human beings.
It is not permissible to divide it, such is the strength of the custom and ceremony. After dinner our host proposed a hunt for bighorns, a large herd of which was known to graze in the mountains within less than a mile from the yurtas. Horses with rich saddles and bridles were led up.
"This joint ain't more than enough for another square meal for us, and though I reckon the bighorns will be coming up to the hills again now, it won't do to risk that." "We have the pack-horses, Jerry." "Yes, I did not think of them. Horseflesh ain't so bad on a pinch; but I don't want to lose our skins." "Better our skins than our hair," Sam laughed.
"Oh yes," rejoined Alex; "you'll find a little grass, and some moss among the rocks, more often than you would think. This is just the kind of country that bighorns like. You mustn't get discouraged too soon on a hunt. An Injun may be slow to start on a hunt, but when he gets started he doesn't get discouraged, but keeps on going.
If they could reach the crest of the cliff, then all might yet be well; and, cheered by this reflection, they rushed up the rock-strewn ravine, now gliding along ledges, now squeezing their bodies between great boulders, or springing from one to the other in the audacity of their bounds rivalling a brace of bighorns.
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