A HUNTER'S CAMP-FIRES 



struggling painfully along the slope, when Mac suddenly stopped, 

 grasped my arm, and pointed up the mountain-side back of 

 us. Evidently consumed with curiosity at the unusual sight 

 of human beings, and mystified by the action of their compan- 

 ions, the remaining four rams were cautiously following us 

 down the slope at a distance of about four hundred yards. 

 We accomplished a hurried dash up the nearest slope and 

 crawled about fifty feet over a pile of broken lava, in time to 

 see the head and shoulders of the largest ram appear over a 

 ledge of rock forty yards directly overhead. At that moment 

 I was lying in such an uncomfortable position as to be obliged 

 to roll over on my side in order to shoot. Alarmed by this 

 sudden motion, the old ram whirled to flee. He was too late. 

 I put a bullet through the thick of his neck, causing him to pitch 

 headlong past us, striking the rocks below with terrific force 

 and rolling over continuously until he lodged against a pile of 

 bowlders two hundred yards farther down the slope. 



Being somewhat exhausted by this time, I gave Mac the 

 carbine and instructed him to finish the wounded ram, which 

 we could see dragging itself along a ledge a quarter of a mile 

 distant. I then started to photograph and skin the head of 

 the dead one. The head of this sheep was one of the largest 

 we secured on the trip, the measurements being fourteen and 

 one-half inches in circumference around the base, thirty-eight 

 and one-half inches around the curve of the horn, and twenty- 

 two inches from tip to tip. I cached the head in the fork of 

 a small balsam in the first timber, and reached camp shortly 

 after dark. Mac arrived about the same time with the news 

 that he had despatched the second ram, which had been shot 

 through the lungs, and was hardly able to struggle along when 

 he overtook it. This ram also had a large head. 



The iiext day was spent by the Indians and myself in pack- 

 ing the heads into the camp, and by Howe in resting up for a 

 final successful assault on the rams. Accompanied by Mac, 



340 



