“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 goûts 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!
“We ran on towards the entrance of the track. On reaching it, a sight was before us that caused the stoutest to tremble. Hunters, Indians, and women were running to and fro in frantic confusion, uttering their varied cries, and pointing upward. We looked in that direction—a row of fearful objects stood upon the brow of the cliff. We knew our enemy at a glance,—the dreaded monsters of the mountains—the grizzly bears!
“There were; five of them—five in sight—there might be others in the background. Five were enough to destroy our whole party, caged as we were, and weakened by famine.
“They had reached the cliff in chase of the cimmaron, and hunger and disappointment were visible in their horrid aspects. Two of them had already crawled close to the scarp, and were pawing over and snuffing the air, as if searching for a place to descend. The other three reared themselves up on their hams, and commenced manoeuvring with their forearms, in a human-like and comical pantomime!