Krag, the Kootenay Ram 



But never day was calmer. Sometimes the 

 Mountain Magpies warn their friends, but not 

 a Bird was anywhere in view ; and still the 

 Gunder Ram was spellbound, watching that 

 enemy, immovable, across the dip. 



Up went the gun that never failed — directed 

 by the eye that never erred. But the hand that 

 had never trembled taking twenty human lives 

 now shook as though in fear. 



Two natures? Yes. 



But the hand grew steady ; the hunter's face 

 was calm and hard. The rifle rang, and Scotty 

 — hid his head; for the familiar "crack!" had 

 sounded as it never did before. He heard 

 a rattling on the distant stones, then a long- 

 drawn snoof ! But he neither looked nor 

 moved. Two minutes later all was still, and 

 he timidly raised his head. Was he gone? or 

 what ? 



There on the snow lay a great gray-brown 

 form, and at one end, like a twin-necked hydra 

 coiling, were the horns, the wonderful horns, 

 the sculptured record of the splendid life of a 

 splendid creature, his fifteen years of life made 

 visible at once. There were the points, much 



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