134 THE UPPER YUKON 



horses. Then we climbed the butte, and lay 

 down to watch the doings of the herd. 



Our first sight of the seven cows was at 

 8.26 A. M. It was 9.23 when we climbed the 

 butte. Soon something happened. The bull 

 must have given a signal to the herd to turn 

 and feed back again up the incline, as one by 

 one they commenced to go that way, while he 

 kept on towards the bottom. Charley and 

 Billie were unpicketed and we moved off to 

 the right, then descended as fast as our ani- 

 mals could walk. We arrived at the bottom 

 without having been discovered by the herd. 

 Our animals were fastened in a secluded 

 place. The Chief and I followed down along 

 the bottom until we came to a tall pinnacle 

 about nine hundred feet high, rising straight 

 up from the canyon. This we climbed, and 

 creeping on all fours came to the edge of the 

 butte. The herd was well scattered and we 

 found the old monarch lying down at full 

 length directly beneath us. He looked the 

 picture of a physically broken animal. My 

 rifle had a strong recoil and I feared to try 

 a shot at him from the peak, as I felt sure 

 I would overshoot him, but the Chief insisted 

 that by holding firm and shooting behind his 

 body I would get him. I tried a shot, but as 



