Kragf, the Kootenay Ram 



Sheep wandering here and there across the 

 country, with their noses to the wind. Scotty 

 followed the prints for a short time, and learned 

 that the Sheep were uneasy, but not alarmed, 

 and less than an hour ahead. They had wan- 

 dered from one sheltered place to another; 

 once or twice had lain down for a minute, 

 only to rise and move on, apparently not hun- 

 gry, as the abundant food was untouched. 



Scotty pushed forward cautiously, scanning 

 the distance, and keeping watch on the trail 

 without following it, when, all at once, he 

 swung around a rocky point into view of a little 

 lupine-crowded hollow, and from the middle of 

 it leaped the two Sheep. 



Up went his rifle, and in a moment one or 

 both would have fallen, had not Scotty's eye, 

 before he pulled, rested on two tiny new-born 

 Lambs, that got up on their long, wabbly legs, 

 in doubt, for a moment, whether to go to the 

 newcomer or to follow their mothers. 



The old Sheep bleated a shrill alarm to their 

 young, and circled back. The Lambs' moment 

 of indecision was over ; they felt that their duty 

 lay with the creatures that looked and smelled 



20 





