SHEEP-HUNTING 183 



it, he will keep the sheep at bay — " treed," as they 

 say in Colorado — until his master comes up. But 

 for one successful run you may make many un- 

 successful ones. Nothing scares game so much as 

 running them with dogs, and consequently it is a 

 pastime that ought never to be pursued, or at any 

 rate hardly ever, and then only when you can be 

 quite certain of success. The place where I caught 

 the little sheep was very favourable for running 

 them. 



The water of St. Mary's Lake is strongly impreg- 

 nated with alkali, and leaves a deposit of that sub- 

 stance round the edge. The spot is in consequence 

 much frequented by sheep, who, in common with 

 all kinds of deer and cattle, are intensely fond of 

 salt. In former days sheep used to come down 

 nearly every morning to lick the alkali on the little 

 plains surrounding the lake. The ground in the 

 neighbourhood is level, with three or four quite 

 detached rocks jutting out of it, and on one side you 

 can get down pretty close to the plain without 

 showing yourself. I remember one day that same 

 summer we passed the lake, a party of four of us 

 with a string of packhorses, on our way to pitch 

 camp for a few days high up on Long's Peak for the 

 purpose of hunting wapiti on the highest fells. I 



