E COMMISSIONER

Notwithstanding the great amount of labor involved as a Civil Service
Commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt did not forego the pleasures of the
hunt, and in 1891 he made an extended trip to the Shoshone Mountains in
Wyoming, going after elk and such other game as might present itself.

On this trip he was accompanied by his ranch partner, a skilled shot
named Ferguson, and two old hunters named Woody and Hofer. There was
also in the party a young fellow who looked after the pack-horses,
fourteen in number.

The start was made on a beautiful day in September, and the party
journeyed along at a gait that pleased them, bringing down everything
that came to hand and which could be used as meat. Two tents were
carried, one for sheltering their packs at night and the other for
sleeping purposes.

In his book called "The Wilderness Hunter," Mr. Roosevelt has given many
of the details of this grand hunt, which he says was one of the most
exciting as well as most pleasurable undertaken. With an interest that
cannot be mistaken, and which betrays the true sportsman at every turn,
he gives minute descriptions of how the tents were erected, how
everything in camp was put in its proper place, and how on wet days they
would huddle around the camp-fire in the middle of the larger tent to
keep warm and dry. He also tells how the packs on the horses were
adjusted, and adds that the hunter who cannot take care of his outfit
while on the hunt, or who must have all his game stalked for him, is a
hunter in name only;--which is literally true, as every genuine
sportsman knows.

The young Civil Service Commissioner went out garbed in a fitting
hunting costume, consisting of a buckskin shirt, with stout leggings,
and moccasins, or, when occasion required, alligator-leather boots.
Heavy overcoats were also carried and plenty of blankets, and for extra
cold nights Theodore Roosevelt had a fur sleeping-bag, in which, no
doubt, he slept "as snug as a bug in a rug."

The horses of a pack-train in the wild West are not always thoroughly
broken, and although the majority rarely do anything worse than lag
behind or stray away, yet occasionally one or another will indulge in
antics far from desired. This was true on the present occasion, when at
different times the pack-beasts went on a "shindy" that upset all
calculations and scattered packs far and wide, causing a general alarm
and hard work on the part of all hands to restore qui