56 CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 



moment and then indulging in a smile and a low 

 chuckle. 



Saddling our horses we started out for the hunt- 

 ing grounds, going up the canyon of Wolverine 

 Creek about eight miles and then striking to the left 

 through a pass in the mountains. Arrived at the 

 top Dixon, with Cutting and Bettle, continued ahead 

 while the writer and Hayden branched to the right 

 across the caribou barrens, which are rolling tundra- 

 covered mountains about two thousand five hundred 

 feet high and above timber line. .We traveled about 

 twenty miles, stopping on the summit of each butte 

 to survey the country around us through our power- 

 ful binoculars, and though the country was barren 

 of timber for many miles we saw not a single cari- 

 bou, though their tracks were frequent. 



The wind blew cold from the glacial fields to the 

 westward; we saw many fresh diggings, where griz- 

 zlies had been searching for gophers, but our hunt 

 discovered no game of any kind. At six o'clock 

 we came down the mountain and reached camp about 

 ten o'clock, where we found the other hunters who 

 had come in earlier. 



Cutting and Bettle, after leaving us in the morn- 

 ing, had located forty-five sheep near the top of a 

 mountain and after looking over the country with 

 glasses picked out a course by which they might 

 climb above the band to within shooting distance. 

 After a long stalk they had approached within a 



