244 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



fired at the ram's shoulder. This is the hunter's own 

 account of what followed : 



" At the roar of the gun, the sheep broke away in all 

 directions. Three ran south-west, across the slide and up 

 the next ridge. I thought that the leading ram was the 

 one at which I had shot. As he ran, I fired three more 

 shots at him; but the wind either swayed me or drifted 

 my bullets, for they only threw up dust beside him. After 

 missing three times, I realized that I must get him with 

 the fourth and last shot, or not at all; so I quickly sat 

 down, took a knee-rest, and held to the left. With that 

 shot I hit him high up in the shoulders, striking the 

 spinal column, and killing him instantly. Fortunately 

 he rolled only once, and lodged against a stump. 



" While reloading my gun I sat watching the two 

 three-year-old companions of my big ram, which were 

 making frantic leaps up the ridge toward the high peak. 

 Just as I finished loading, I heard Mack yelling in great 

 excitement, fifty yards below me, 'Jack! Jack! Run 

 here, quick. Two hungers! ' " 



Mack and Charlie always speak of rams with big 

 horns as " hungers " — a very convenient term when breath 

 is scarce, and rams are running. 



*' Running at top speed down the point, I soon saw 

 two large rams, two hundred yards away. They were 

 running north, through a patch of burned timber, quak- 

 ing-asp and willows, which made it very difficult to get 

 any kind of a shot. The speed with which those rams 

 bounded over the down timber and brush was really 

 wonderful. They seemed scarcely to touch the ground. 



