n6 CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 



my shoulder, though I was still trembling too much 

 for a fair aim, but the ram was about to jump so I 

 shot twice and missed both times. The sheep ran a 

 hundred yards farther and at the base of a sharp 

 incline just below the summit paused for a final look; 

 which was a fatal pause, as my breathing had be- 

 come steady and the trembling spell was gone. One 

 shot at three hundred yards was all that was neces- 

 sary, as my bullet ranged through the heart and the 

 ram was dead. 



As we plowed our way over to the sheep, Albert 

 became very loquacious and tried to flatter me with 

 the honeyed words: " Him shoot same like Injun, 

 kill 'em far, kill 'em quick, just one time shoot " ; 

 but I mildly suggested to Albert that, " I had made 

 two nice misses at very much closer range just a 

 moment earlier," to which he replied : " All same 

 Injun fast beat him heart, no get him wind, no good 

 shoot." Albert insisted that I take off my glasses 

 and sit down in the snow and shiver while he takes 

 a picture of " dam fool sheep, come feed in snow ; 

 damfool hunter, like climb mountain in snow " (the 

 photograph is submitted in evidence as an admission 

 of the Indian's point of view). The gentle savage 

 intended this doubtful language as a compliment to 

 the writer and not at all as an expression of con- 

 tempt, but his vocabulary is quite circumscribed and 

 his words have to be interpreted by an understand- 

 ing of what he means rather than what he says, and 



