234 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



dots that peppered the surrounding hillsides started 

 in amaze. No movement of any kind from my sleep- 

 ing beauty, and then I realized that there must be 

 something untoward. He slept indeed. Death, in 

 kindly fashion, had stricken him, and he lay, as yet 

 untouched by eagles and carrion hawks, a gem of his 

 kind. His perfect head in an attitude of repose, his 

 splendid horns catching the rays of the setting sun. 

 A patriarch by the rings, and this easily come-by 

 trophy was our record head, we never matched it in 

 beauty or inches. 



I could not help feeling amused at the praise I had 

 so generously given myself for my masterly stalk ! 

 Things one takes are seldom deserved. We take 

 credit to ourselves to bolster up hope, to counter- 

 balance our liabilities. Unfortunately we are not our 

 own auditors, and the recording angel only accepts 

 items that pass muster. 



We were on the verge of a grocery famine, having 

 worked through our small stores of tea and sugar, etc., 

 so decided to trek next day to the base camp and refit. 

 Setting out very early we marched ahead of our men, 

 and all suddenly came on a path of sheep, the tracks 

 looking very new. On down another ridge, and 

 there, right on the sky line, silhouetted on a topmost 

 pinnacle, stood a fine ram listening. He faced the 

 other way, and clearly had not winded us. I dropped 

 into a sitting position, and prayed that the men would 

 have the sense to keep quiet and not spoil it all. 

 Nearly two hundred and thirty yards separated me 

 for I paced it afterwards from the sheep, and I 



