IN THE ALASKA-YUKON GAMELANDS 



us, hat and arms in air, gesticulating and sign- 

 talking in the most excited manner. The sub- 

 stance of all his mute commands was for me to 

 duck, that the sheep were just over the rim 

 ahead of me my position being directly on a line 

 between the game and Cap. 



When he reached me we held a short pow-wow, 

 the sense of which was that I was to take the first 

 shot, after which we both were to whale away 

 until we had secured what we wanted provided, 

 of course, that we must not shoot at any animal 

 not desirable as a good specimen for the museum. 

 With feverish expectancy we crawled to the top. 

 Then, as we began to see things around us we 

 went almost by inches. Finally we peered over 

 and saw five sheep feeding in a grassy swale. 

 The nearest was not over sixty yards away. 

 There were two 3-year-olds (a male and a fe- 

 male), two lambs and an ewe. I picked out the 

 male 3-year-old and killed it with the first shot 

 thru the shoulder. Then Cap opened up. In 

 fact we were both able to get in a shot at the re- 

 treating band before they dove into the gulch 

 but a few yards beyond. We ran breathless to the 

 rim of the gulch and saw them stretching tape 

 like scared cats 300 yards away. I never saw a 

 quicker get-away in my life. We both continued 

 nring at them as they ran up the rocky gorge 

 and at the fifth shot at 450 yards (measured) I 

 dropped the ewe. She never moved after falling, 

 as far as we could see at that distance. When 



108 



