Part 22 (1/2)

All that afternoon they fought their way through the rugged loomy pass at the foot of Vancouver Mountain, a vast pile that towered nearly fourteen thousand feet high

It see way from civilization, and Tad aded to follow a trail up there

The caht, but the boys considered that they had done enough for one day The ponies eary and Tad knew better than to press them too hard After supper the freckle-faced boy shouldered his rifle

Anvik gave hi?” de to 'et soet lost”

”No, that will not be possible So long as I keep in the pass I shall be all right Don't worry; I'll keep in the pass all right”

The boy plunged into the thick undergrowth, and no sooner had he done so than the giant ht theri theet no game if he re his bearings, Tad climbed the mountain until he was able to look over the tops of the trees It was like a level green sea He sat down in the sunlight, gazing out over the wonderful landscape

”A world of silence,” hesoftening of the brain hello!” Tad froze himself There was scarcely a perceptible flicker of the eyelids as his gaze became fixed on a point of rock just across the pass There, poised with one foot in the air, stood an antelope It was a young doe, as Tad surmised it to be His position was not a favorable one for shooting because he was in plain sight, and the least move on his part no doubt would be discovered by the antelope

”She ot a whiff from the camp If I don't make any false moves she will be over in that camp within the next hour”

Tad raised his rifle slowly Yet slow and cautious as he was, the antelope's head went up sharply So did Butler's rifle He took quick aier The report of his shot went crashi+ng from wall to wall, like a series of heavy shots

[Illustration: He Raised His Rifle Slowly]

The freckle-faced boy leaped to his feet, and to one side, with rifle ready for another shot in case he had missed But he had not The antelope had leaped into the air, turned a coulch out of sight

”Hooray! Maybe it was a chance shot, but it was a dandy just the sa to be able to find her I think I kno”

The boy took out his co on the point where he had last seen the antelope Noting the course he started down theover the pass wasthrough the center of it Nothing daunted, Tad plunged in, but ept off his feet almost instantly and carried several rods down before he was able to check hi a rock

The rifle had been held out of the waterThe water was less swift fro He fell only once on the way over This ti

”It doesn't un isn't any the worse off, though I shall have to give it a pretty thorough cleaning and oiling when I get back to ca been thrown considerably off his course, Butler found soain, but he found it at last, then guided by the coht to where the antelope lay arowth He examined her and found that the bullet had entered just behind the left shoulder

”I couldn't have done any better than that at fifty yards,” chuckled the boy ”The next question is, how aet her to camp? I reckon I shall have to tote her”

CHAPTER XIII

A PONY RIDER BOY'S PLUCK

”White boy hirunted Anvik