114 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



as its eyes are, a grizzly is very keen-sighted; and I can 

 see no reason for believing that the goat is of dull vision 

 simply because he is not ever ready to run at the slight- 

 est alarm. 



More than once we had positive proof that the 

 mountain goat does not take alarm and run from man 

 the moment his presence is detected. On the day I 

 killed my grizzly bear, Charlie Smith and I rode to 

 Goat Pass to inspect our cache of provisions and other 

 things, half in the hope of finding a silver-tip in the act 

 of robbing us. Besides ourselves and our two horses, the 

 dog was with us, and between men, horses and dog there 

 certainly was a variety of what Mr. Seton aptly calls 

 " man scent." 



When we reached our cache, from which we over- 

 looked the head gorge of Goat Creek, we saw a billy 

 goat feeding on the fearfully steep declivity which comes 

 down from Phillips Peak. 



" That would be our goat, if we wanted him, 

 Charlie." 



" You could surely knock him from here," said 

 Charlie. *' I wonder if he ain't ever going to go! " 



" Can it be that he don't see us? " 



" If he ain't blind he must see us; and unless he's 

 got an awful cold in his head, he must smell us, too." 



For fully five minutes, I should think, that goat kept 

 on feeding. At last, however, as we were mounting to 

 ride on, he left off, and started to climb on up the slope, 

 — not exactly in alarm, but in a state of what judges call 

 " reasonable doubt." 



