We Had Been In The Evening Shadows For Half An Hour Before Those
Peaks Ceased To Be Transparent Gold.
On Leaving Colonel Kittridge's Hospitable Cabin I Dismounted, As
I Had Often Done Before, To Lower A Bar, And, On Looking Round,
Birdie Was Gone!
I spent an hour in trying to catch her, but she
had taken an "ugly fit," and would not let me go near her; and I
was getting tired and vexed, when two passing trappers, on mules,
circumvented and caught her.
I rode the twelve miles back to
Twin Rock, and then went on, a kindly teamster, who was going in
the same direction, taking my pack. I must explain that every
mile I have traveled since leaving Colorado Springs has taken me
farther and higher into the mountains. That afternoon I rode
through lawnlike upland parks, with the great snow mass of Pike's
Peak behind, and in front mountains bathed in rich atmospheric
coloring of blue and violet, all very fine, but threatening to
become monotonous, when the wagon road turned abruptly to the
left, and crossed a broad, swift, mountain river, the head-
waters of the Platte. There I found the ranch to which I had
been recommended, the quarters of a great hunter named Link,
which much resembled a good country inn. There was a pleasant,
friendly woman, but the men were all away, a thing I always
regret, as it gives me half an hour's work at the horse before I
can write to you.
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