ii2 CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 



ing on a peak on our side of the creek and three 

 miles up the valley ; we saw what he had in mind, but 

 it looked more like a rock pinnacle covered with 

 snow and half veiled with the skirts of the storm 

 drawing off across the mountains, so we paid no 

 attention to the object, except to remark that " a 

 caribou must be entirely crazy to take the air at 

 such a height on a morning like this." 



Our morning meal was finished just about the time 

 the sky cleared, and the sun glared down upon the 

 snowbound scene. The writer, with some curiosity 

 about Dixon's caribou that displayed a taste for icy 

 pinnacles, turned his glasses upon the spot and saw 

 that the so-called caribou was a magnificent old ram, 

 who was evidently considering the question of where 

 he should go to dig through the drift for his morn- 

 ing meal. On looking up the creek bottom land the 

 glasses disclosed a herd of twenty-four caribou about 

 six miles off, with one big bull coming down from 

 the mountains at the head of the glacier, moving 

 in our direction to a less arctic and altitudinous 

 range for the winter. The writer with the Indian 

 decided to go after the big ram and to pass up the 

 caribou, while Hoyt and Dixon would pack up the 

 outfit, saddle the horses, then wait for the caribou 

 to co'me along to be killed, after which they would 

 move camp as far into the heart of the range as the 

 last willows. 



We started afoot for the ram, traveling up the 



