124 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



two miles from camp ; then I crawled cau- 

 tiously to a high ridge and crouching behind 

 it scanned all the landscape eagerly. In a 

 few minutes a movement about a third of a 

 mile to the right, midway down a hill, caught 

 my eye. Another glance showed me three 

 white specks moving along the hillside. 

 They were the white rumps of three fine 

 mountain sheep, on their way to drink at a 

 little alkaline pool in the bottom of a deep, 

 narrow valley. In a moment they went out 

 of sight round a bend of the valley ; and I 

 rose and trotted briskly towards them, along 

 the ridge. There were two or three deep gul- 

 lies to cross, and a high shoulder over which 

 to clamber ; so I was out of breath when I 

 reached the bend beyond which they had dis- 

 appeared. Taking advantage of a scrawny 

 sage brush as cover I peeped over the edge, 

 and at once saw the sheep, three big young 

 rams. They had finished drinking and were 

 standing beside the little mirey pool, about 

 three hundred yards distant. Slipping back I 

 dropped down into the bottom of the valley, 

 where a narrow washout zigzagged from side 

 to side, between straight walls of clay. The 

 pool was in the upper end of this washout, 

 under a cut bank. 



An indistinct game trail, evidently some- 

 times used by both bighorn and blacktail, ran 

 up this washout ; the bottom was of clay so 

 that I walked noiselessly ; and the crooked- 

 ness of the washout's course afforded ample 

 security against discovery by the sharp eyes 

 of the quarry. In a couple of minutes I 

 stalked stealthily round the last bend, my rifle 



