SHEEP-HUNTING 189 



ling along a very steep mountain side all covered 

 wdth loose stones, and though I was in moccasins, 

 which are the best wear for hunting, I could not 

 move without making a noise, and I started my 

 sheep. After walking about half an hour I came to 

 the place where he had started, but followed on all 

 the same, in the hope of getting sight of him, and 

 presently came to another spot where he had stood 

 and looked about him. He had no doubt caught 

 sight of me, for he had started off on a dead jump 

 straight down a very steep ravine, at least a 

 thousand feet deep and equally precipitous on 

 the other side. I could make out his tracks going 

 down, but could not see anything of him, although 

 I sat down and carefully examined the opposite face 

 of the mountain with my glasses. So down I 

 went, and presently struck his tracks again going 

 up the other side. It was a terribly hard mountain 

 to climb. It had once been clothed with a thick 

 covering of pine trees which had all been burnt and 

 blown down, and the ground was completely strewn 

 with trunks of trees, smooth and slippery. I do not 

 suppose that my foot touched the ground one- 

 fourth of the distance, for I was obliged to walk 

 along the trees, and hop and jump from one to the 

 other, after the manner of a squirrel. Added to 



