156 CAMP FIRE REMINISCENCES 
other side of the basin. They were making their 
way leisurely up the cliff from a lick at which they 
had been. As they were perfectly white and the 
rocks behind looked very black, they presented ex- 
cellent targets. The range was about three hun- 
dred yards and I fired a magazine before finding 
out where my bullets were striking. Then one 
drew a puff of dust from the rock beside the goat 
at which I was firing and a few shots later he 
tumbled over and lay still until my guide climbed up 
and dispatched him. As we were a long way from 
camp and night coming on, we were obliged to leave 
the skinning until the following day, but while 
Dawson climbed to bring down No. 3, I took the 
head off No.1. It was rather disappointing for me 
to find that one horn was a little deformed, but I 
had been so fortunate that I did not mind much. 
Dawson said that the seven goats had been at a 
lick, which is a rock impregnated with salt or some 
alkaline matter. Sometimes a saline fluid oozing 
from the hillside, will attract the game from all 
over the neighbourhood. 
How intense the satisfaction of bagging a keenly 
hunted beast! It was splendid, having had three 
shots in different directions from the same stand, 
and the shooting had been fairly good. C. told me 
that when the reports began to echo around the 
cliffs, he had seen several other goats appearing 
from nooks and corners far up the mountain, from 
his position at the lake below, he had a better 
view. 
We were soon on the homeward trail and after 
