268 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



fuls of rice, and was soon enjoying a supper of rice cakes 

 and a ptarmigan, which I had killed on my way down 

 the mountain. 



"Sitting there in the door of this little cabin, eating 

 my supper, and looking over the great mountains above 

 me, was a treat I'll not soon forget. Above the green 

 timber there was a lot of snow, and off to the right, on 

 the other side of Indian River, a great glacier spUt the 

 mountainside. While I looked over this grandeur a 

 band of a dozen sheep walked out from behind a point 

 of rock about a quarter mile from where I sat. The 

 binoculars showed them to be ewes and lambs, and I 

 sat watching them till darkness closed down. It was a 

 beautiful sight. 



"Next morning, October 5th, I was on my way back 

 to the main camp as soon as it was light enough to travel, 

 for I was worried about 'Scotty' and thought it possible 

 that I might have to take him back to Seward. If this 

 was the case, I argued, and I was going to get a sheep 

 head, I must take what I could get that day. 



"Climbing to the mountainside I spotted twenty- 

 one head of sheep within an hour's tramp from the 

 cabin, but saw no good rams. Just as I topped a long, 

 narrow ridge, and looked down on Watch Creek near 

 its source, I saw before me a bunch of rams some four 

 hundred yards away, walking slowly up the opposite 

 side of the ridge from where I stood on its crest. A 

 hasty glance at the band with the glass from behind a 

 boulder was all that was necessary for me to decide that 

 there were two in the lot that looked good enough to me 

 in the circumstances. A hasty retreat of a few feet to 

 get under cover of the hill, and then a sharp run of several 

 hundred yards, brought me to a point where I felt that 



