CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 43 



started out with one of the boats, leaving Bruce the 

 cook, with Cutting, to come along with the second 

 boat. After proceeding about ten miles we struck 

 a heavy squall and our boat being heavily loaded 

 with only three inches of gunwale above water line, 

 we ran before the wind for the western shore, which 

 we reached about 6.30. After unloading our sup- 

 plies on the beach and erecting tent, one of us lo- 

 cated a band of sheep on the mountain, four miles 

 from camp, and feeding at an altitude of about five 

 thousand feet. 



We studied the mountain through our glasses for 

 a few minutes and decided that while we would have 

 to stalk them almost straight up, yet with good luck 

 and the protection of a small draw we would have 

 a chance of getting within shooting distance. 



Dixon and the writer started up a canyon with a 

 wild stream roaring through the rocks, and after 

 proceeding a couple of miles it became evident we 

 must climb the walls and get up on the mountain 

 slope. The walls were as nearly perpendicular as 

 any bit of natural architecture the writer had ever 

 assayed, but they were mostly of rock with little soil 

 to make uncertain footing, so by using hands and 

 feet we clung to the rocky face, sometimes going 

 up, sometimes making our way carefully across the 

 face to a more favorable point of ascent, and finally 

 reached the top about six hundred feet up the moun- 

 tain. After waiting a moment to get a new supply 



