MORE CAMP-FIRE YARNS 231 



the climb from below, Jack, who is perhaps the best 

 mountaineer in British Columbia leading the way. As 

 soon as he got his head and shoulders above the seat of 

 the chair he saw a big ram close by, and prepared to 

 rope him. As I was hanging onto the icy rocks at one side, 

 I happened to cast my eyes over the precipice, plumb 

 down into Pass Creek. The sight of it fairly chilled 

 the marrow in my bones, and brought me to my senses. 

 I yelled out to Jack, ' For God's sake, Jack, don't rope 

 that sheep, or he'll pull us both off the mountain ! ' At 

 that, Jack pulled up short, and as we clung to the rocks, 

 the sheep stampeded. But the sheep couldn't get up the 

 back or over the arms of the chair, so they came out al- 

 most over the top of Jack, one large ewe making a pass 

 at him with her horns as she went by. After getting 

 away, all the sheep ran south along the mountain, with 

 the exception of the old ram, who circled below them to 

 the north, and headed for Hornaday Mountain. He 

 went down that awful mountain-side just a-tearin'. As 

 we watched, we saw him plunge into a patch of deep 

 snow in Pass Creek and go plumb out of sight\ Then 

 we thought we had him. 



" We scrambled down from the crags, and as soon as 

 it was safe we put on our snow shoes, which we had been 

 carrying on our backs for just such an emergency. As 

 we ran down to the creek, with Jack Lewis leading, one 

 of his shoes came off and he turned a complete somer- 

 set, breaking through the crust and disappearing in the 

 deep snow. I was so close after him that before I could 

 stop or swerve to one side, I piled in on top of him. When 



