i2 4 CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 



indeed, you do not think about anything else except 

 that next finger hold and step you are going to take, 

 and the danger of it all never enters your mind as 

 you concentrate on your next move and do not con- 

 sider possibilities. 



At last we pulled ourselves to the knife-blade 

 ridge cutting the sky, where the wind blew cold and 

 where the ridge we must cross was less than eight 

 inches wide, covered with snow and dropping down 

 thousands of feet, whose magnificent depth we did 

 not even momentarily observe, as that eight-inch 

 ridge led up to safe and sane footing. As we knew 

 not whether the edge beneath the snow was loose 

 rock, or slippery soil, we made haste very slowly, 

 advancing and balancing along the icy sky line like 

 puppets in some outlandish show; sometimes the 

 snow and rocks displaced by our footing would slide 

 into the abyss on either side, but it was not a subject 

 for thought at the time though the subconscious 

 mind evidently made note of it. 



At last we reached a flat top and began to remem- 

 ber the almost forgotten sheep, as we went rapidly 

 forward for nearly a mile, until we decided the 

 sheep must be almost directly below. A projecting 

 ledge obstructed our downward view, so we went 

 down a ridge to get a clear view, only to find the 

 sheep had moved. Even as we looked the band 

 came into view two hundred yards away, traveling 

 in the same direction as we were going, paralleling 



