152 THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



rashly attacked a full-grown billy, and managed to inflict 

 upon him mortal injuries. Before he fell, however, the goat 

 countered by driving his little skewer-sharp black horns into 

 the vitals of the grizzly with such judgment and precision that 

 the dead grizzly was found by Mr. A. B. Fen wick quite near 

 the dead goat. 



We know that the mountain goat is a good reasoner in 

 certain life-or-death matters affecting himself. 



He knows no such thing as becoming panic-stricken from 

 surprise or fear. An animal that looks death in the face every 

 hour from sunrise until sunset is not to be upset by trifles. We 

 have seen that if a dog and several men corner a goat on a 

 precipice ledge, and hem him in so that there is no avenue of 

 escape, he does not grow frantic, as any deer or most sheep 

 would do, and plunge off into space to certain death. Not he. 

 He stands quite still, glares indignantly upon his enemies, 

 shakes his head, occasionally grits his teeth or stamps a foot, 

 but otherwise waits. His attitude and his actions say: 



"Well, it is your move. What are you going to do next?" 



Most captive ruminants struggle frantically when put into 

 crates for shipment. White goats very rarely do so. They 

 recognize the inevitable, and accept it with resignation. 

 Captive antelopes and deer often kill themselves by dashing 

 madly against wire fences, but I never knew a white goat to 

 injure itself on a fence. Many a wild animal has died from 

 fighting its shipping crate; but no wild goat ever did so. A 

 white goat will walk up a forty-five degree plank to the roof 

 of his house, climb all over it, and joyously perch on the peak; 

 but no mountain sheep or deer of ours ever did so. They are 

 afraid! Only the Himalayan tahr equals the white goat in 

 climbing in captivity, and it will climb into the lower branches 

 of an oak tree, just for fun. 



Of all the ruminant animals I know intimately, the white 

 mountain goat is the philosopher-in-chief. Were it not so, how 

 would it be possible for him to live and thrive, and attain 



