CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 123 



toward the canyon and our line of assault was open. 



Leading the horses and dodging behind low 

 ridges we came to the bottom of the slope, and, 

 tethering our mounts in a deep gulch between two 

 ascending ridges, began our climb up the heights. 

 The lower slope was hard going, as the snow was 

 deep and we were continually falling down and 

 floundering around in the drift; the best we could 

 do was to ascend about two hundred feet and then 

 rest a few minutes to recover enough wind to con- 

 tinue; we panted and perspired under the strain of 

 that ascent, like Arabs crossing the burning sands 

 of the Sahara instead of hunters daring the icy 

 heights. The higher we climbed the more abrupt 

 became the ascent and, as we were frequently slip- 

 ping and slipping was dangerous, we went onward 

 and upward at a snail's pace, using the butt of the 

 gun for Alpine stock and trying the footing a step 

 ahead before taking our weight off the rear foot. 



The last stretch was one of those straight-up in- 

 ventions of the devil, where one digs his fingers 

 through the snow for a grip on the sharp rocks and 

 then feels around with his toes for a solid rock foot- 

 ing a little higher than his previous footing; some- 

 times we could not continue up, but had to climb 

 directly across the face of the cliff-like top to reach 

 a more favorable point of ascent. No one ever 

 thinks of looking back in a situation of this sort, for 

 to look anywhere except directly ahead is utter folly ; 



