THE ROSE MOUNTAINS 281 



the Little Salmon River headed there, not far from the 

 Pelly. 



I went along the crest to the west end of the range, 

 and there had to endure another snow blizzard which 

 lasted two hours. Then I saw about seventeen ewes and 

 Jambs not a hundred and fifty yards away. All were of 

 the same varying color as the others seen on the same 

 mountain. None of the sheep observed in Rose Mountain 

 acted as "sentinels," but they were as restless and active 

 as ewes generally are. After watching them for an hour, I 

 left without disturbing them and returned to camp. I had 

 seen two fresh caribou tracks on the mountain, great quan- 

 tities of ptarmigan, a few ground-squirrels and marmots. 



That night, as I was lying under the shelter and look- 

 ing down the basin, then filled with mist, while the sur- 

 rounding mountain-crests were bathed in a ghastly light 

 shed by the moon, and complete silence reigned over the 

 weird scene, the grunting of a bull moose sounded a 

 hundred yards behind me. Nearer and nearer out of the 

 gloom came the sound, but not a stick cracked, not a foot- 

 step was heard. Still nearer it came, until only forty 

 feet away, but although I strained my eyes to penetrate 

 the dimly lighted mist, I could see nothing. Not a sound 

 was audible except the regular grunting, which now began 

 to grow more distant and finally ceased, on the opposite 

 side of the basin. 



September 1 6. The next morning we returned to the 

 Pelly and found that Rose had the skin of a small female 

 black bear stretched on a frame. Not even a humorous 

 twinkle beamed in his eyes when he told us that when 



