All this while Felix had not forgotten the two principal things he had in mind when laying out this trip to the Rocky Mountain region.
A grizzly was the height of his ambition, and unless he could manage to get such a prize to his credit, all alone and unaided, he would feel very much disappointed indeed. And then there was that bighorn business—he had heard so much about these strange sheep of the rocky heights that he often expressed a wish to try and secure such a splendid trophy. Could he see a pair of those curved horns decorating his den at home, the boy felt that it would please him more than words could tell.
And Tom, understanding what all this eagerness meant to his comrade, was making preparations looking to a start along those lines; he had his eye out for signs of the monster that had passed near the cabin on the first night of their occupancy, and whose den he believed must be among the rocky canyons of the mountains, not half a mile away from the edge of the valley where the dugout lay.
[CHAPTER XIII—HUNTING THE BIGHORN]
"I've fixed things so that today the traps can take care of themselves," remarked Tom, one morning, as they sat there at the rude table eating their breakfast of oatmeal, and coffee, and some biscuits Felix had managed to make, using a pan for his oven, and with pretty fair success, too, Tom had declared, after making away with his tenth one, covered with honey.
Felix looked quickly up at his chum. He could read between the lines, and understood that Tom would not have said this unless he had something to propose.
"And what were you thinking of doing, then?" he asked, seeing that the other was waiting to be questioned.
"Well, I happened to notice yesterday that a little flock of bighorn sheep seemed to be feeding in a certain patch away up the face of the mountain, where there must be some grass that has been protected so far from the freeze; and I was wondering whether you would feel like taking a shy at the same, always providing we can climb up to a place within gunshot?"
Felix jumped up, as he was really through eating; his eyes danced with eagerness, just as Tom anticipated they would.
"Let's start right now," he remarked; whereat the other laughed at him.