234 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



of limestone rock, up to a giddy height, the hunters 

 struggled on — breathless, and their legs aching with 

 the exertion of climbing such as they had long been 

 strangers to — without catching sight of a bighorn. 

 When they had ascended 700 or 800 feet, they espied 

 a mountain goat — mouton hlanc — feeding quietly, along 

 with a kid by its side, a few hundred yards in ad- 

 vance. Making a long detour, and going higher yet, 

 to get above the animal, they crawled cautiously 

 along to the point where they had last seen the goat, 

 and, peering over the edge of a rock, saw its face 

 looking upwards, about twenty yards below\ The 

 rest of the body was hidden by a projecting stone, 

 and Cheadle fired at the forehead. The animal 

 tumbled over, but got up again, bewildered, making no 

 attempt to escape. The Assiniboine now got a sight 

 of the shoulder and fired, w^hen the animal scrambled 

 away, with difficulty, a short distance. They quickly 

 followed and found it almost dead. Having no 

 more ball, The Assiniboine killed the kid with a 

 charge of shot. On going up to the game, it appeared 

 that the first shot had merely struck the frontal bone, 

 close to the root of the horn, which it tore off without 

 further damage ; but the shock had so stunned the 

 beast, that it was unable to move away. The hunters 

 pushed the goat and kid OA^r the precipice, and 

 scrambled down after it. Looking up at the precipice 

 from below, it seemed as if not even a goat could find 

 footing, and Cheadle wondered he had ever dared 

 to venture there. They found also, now the excite- 

 ment of the chase was over, that their moccasins were 



