THE FINAL STALK 77 



Osgood to preserve. Then crossing the stream to the 

 second ram killed, which had fallen on an exceedingly 

 steep slope, I photographed him also and removed his 

 skin and head. Both were carried to the ram below, the 

 first one killed. Up to this time I had not been near 

 him and the climax of the day came as I saw lying before 

 me an enormous ram of grayish color, grizzled with age, 

 his large, perfect horns sweeping upward in spirals ex- 

 tending well above the eyes, a finer trophy than I had 

 ever anticipated, an old veteran of the crags and peaks. 

 It was raining heavily, the mountain crests were covered 

 with clouds, and a dense fog was settling all around me. 

 I tried several exposures for photographs, and measured 

 the ram whose length was fifty-nine inches. In the rain 

 and cold I finished skinning him at 10.30 p. M. The 

 head was cut off and left in the skin. 



Thoroughly soaked, I rested for awhile and ate a 

 couple of crackers. Far below in the distance the camp- 

 fires could be seen glimmering through the fog, which 

 soon became so dense that the darkness increased. The 

 nights were now perceptibly darker, so much so that in 

 this heavy fog I could not clearly see the ground. Tying 

 the larger head and skin in my rucksack, also putting 

 another on my back, and taking the third in my hand, I 

 began the descent. The first hundred feet proved the 

 impossibility of going on without lightening the load ; so 

 the smaller head and skin were left on a rock at the bot- 

 tom of the canon. Then another start was made with 

 the remaining pack rearranged and with the rifle slung 

 on my back. The descent was so steep and the canon 



