392 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



pared for the event by filling up the magazine of our Win- 

 chester rifles and half-cocking them. After a careful scan- 

 ning of the bowlders, we espied a group of half a dozen 

 animals in a niche far above us. Making a detour to the 

 right, where a chasm yawned, we got to within a quarter 

 of a mile of them ; but finding ourselves to the windward, 

 and in a spot where we could get only one shot ere they 

 might disappear, the guide took up one of the dogs and 

 showed him where the goats were browsing. Wagging 

 his tail to indicate that he understood his mission, he start- 

 ed off at his best speed, followed by his companion, while 

 we hastened back to an isolated mass of rock that skirted 

 the vale on the north-east. The dogs having a wide detour 

 to make in order to get above the goats, we were conceal- 

 ed before their sharp bark announced that they had found 

 the quarry. As soon as the animals were started, they 

 came bounding down into the valley, in contradistinction 

 to their usual manner, closely followed by the active pur- 

 suers, which kept up an incessant yelping. I was so inter- 

 ested in watching the daring leaps and nimble clambering 

 of the flock that I forgot all about my purpose of tumbling 

 one over; and it was only when the guide stated that we 

 would have "to run for a shot" that I was recalled to it. 

 Running at our best speed toward a series of bowlders that 

 marked the line of a canyon, we reached there in time to 

 see the flock bounding upward again ; but, ere they dis- 

 appeared, we managed to get a rather indifferent shot at 

 a couple in the rear at a distance of about one hundred 

 yards. We did not expect to claim any prizes from that 

 effort ; but we concluded to search, nevertheless, in hopes 

 that we might have wounded one at least. Great, there- 

 fore, was our satisfaction to find a handsome kid stretched 

 dead on the ground, and a trail of blood a little farther on 

 a proof that another had been seriously wounded. Fol- 

 lowing this gory pathway for a distance of several hundred 

 yards, we reached a clump of dwarf pines, and there found 

 a yearling ram in the last throes of dissolution. An ex- 

 amination revealed the fact that he was shot through the 



