MULE DEER AND MOUNTAIN GOAT 85 



below the fallen timber and round the foot of the 

 spur, far below the point at which the goats lay 

 blinking in the sun. They do not care much for 

 moving in the daytime, and do most of their 

 travelling at night. I would have given much to 

 have seen them at such a time moving like great 

 white spectres about the tops, looking the rightful 

 owners of the vast spaces over which they moved, 

 their grotesque outlines softened and subdued in 

 the light of the moon. There was nothing fairy- 

 like about them as they lay there on the spur. 

 The nanny stretched herself like a great tired dog, 

 and the big billy stood over her. One of the 

 smaller goats, poised on a pinnacle of rock, looked 

 meditatively into the valley below. For a long 

 time he stood there, unheeding of his brother on 

 the slope above, then slowly turned his head. 

 Straight between his forelegs, apparently, he saw 

 what he wanted ; for slowly and without haste he 

 hunched up his hind-quarters and solemnly slid 

 down ten feet of perpendicular rock. Then seeing 

 nothing out of the ordinary in so startling a per- 

 formance, he put down his head and quietly com- 

 menced to feed. 



The sky had become overcast and clouds hid 

 the sun. It was not so warm on the spur as it 

 had been earlier in the day. The goats seemed to 

 realise this, for they left the shelter of the fir tree 

 and began to slowly move down the hillside. Pre- 

 sently there came a faint moaning in the tree-tops 



