f any of the trees should blow down
their falling bodies would not reach us here in the center of the open
space. There is grass everywhere for the horses, and water, both lake
and running, for all of us."

They unsaddled the riding horses, took the packs off the others and
turned them loose. All four neighed gratefully, and set to work on the
grass.

"They've done a tremendous lot of mountain climbing, and they've carried
heavy burdens," said Boyd, "and they're entitled to a long rest, long
enough to heal up their sore feet and fill out their sides again. Now,
Will, you'll make a great hunter some day, but suppose, for the present,
you guard the packs while I look for an elk and maybe a bear. Two of
them would furnish more meat than we could use in a long time, but we
need their skins."

"I'm content to wait," said Will, who was saddle-tired.

He sat down on the thick, soft grass by the side of the packs, and his
physical system, keyed up so long, suffered a collapse, complete but not
unpleasant. Every nerve relaxed and he sank back against his pack,
content to be idle as long as Boyd was away. But while his body was weak
then, his mind was content. Clarke Valley, which had been named after
him, was surely wonderful. It was green and fresh everywhere and Boyd
Lake was molten silver. Not far away the cataract showed white against
the mountainside, and its roar came in a pleasant murmur to his ears.

He heard a distant shot, but it did not disturb him. He knew it was
Boyd, shooting something, probably the elk he wished. After a while he
heard another report, and he put that down as the bear. His surmise was
correct in both instances.

Boyd, with his help, skinned both the bear and the elk, and they hung
great quantities of the flesh of both in the trees to dry. Boyd
carefully scraped the skins with his hunting knife, and they, too, were
hung out to dry. While they were hanging there Will also shot a bear,
and his hairy covering was added to the others.

A few days later Boyd built the wickiup, called by the Sioux tipiowinja.
Taking one of the sharp axes he quickly cut a number of slender, green
poles, the larger ends of which he sharpened well and thrust deep into
the ground, until he had made with them a complete circle. The smaller
ends were bent toward a common center and fastened tightly with withes
of skin. The space between was thatched with brush, and the whole was
covered with the skins of elk and bear, w