TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 211 



I saw no sign that the ball had struck the ground, neith- 

 er did the sheep stir. I tried again with like results. I 

 then raised the rear sight to one thousand yards and the ball 

 struck within thirty feet of him. When the sight was raised 

 to eleven hundred yards the bullet landed directly under his 

 body, causing him to leap from the rock. I made several 

 further attempts simply as experiments, for I could not have 

 reached the sheep had I killed him. 



I prepared and ate a lunch, then followed the canyon 

 about five miles up the main range, whence, with a good pair 

 of glasses I could see a large part of Wyoming and Idaho. 

 Suddenly a sharp peal of thunder warned me that a storm 

 was brewing. The heavens above were as clear as a bell, 

 but far in the distance dark clouds were rising, while the 

 lightning was shooting its forked shafts in every direction. 

 The clouds came rolling along the sides of the mountains, 

 apparently swallowing up everything in their path, a violent 

 gust of wind sweeping wildly before them. No need now to 

 wonder where the storm was coming from, nor where it 

 would spend its fury. Trees were torn up by the roots and 

 hurled into the canyon below, and game fled in all directions 

 to places of safety. 



Protected from the storm by a huge rock, I looked 

 calmly upon the scene of destruction. A band of sheep, 

 leaping from rock to rock, came directly toward me and I 

 shot at one but the gale befriended it. The mountains ap- 

 peared to be on fire, so vivid and continuous was the light- 

 ning. I would that I could portray the grandeur of the spec- 

 tacle, which will ever remain stamped upon my memory. 

 The storm having spent itself, I picketed my horse and lay 

 down to rest, for it would have been impossible to have 

 found my way to camp through the darkness, and the great- 

 er part of the night was passed in watching the lightning 

 playing through the heavens. 



