THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 377 



follow it up about two miles, and then climb another 

 mountain like the one we were on. 



It rained that night, and early the next morning we 

 started to retrace our steps. We slid down the mountain, 

 followed the creek up till we found a trail leading up 

 another rocky wall, and followed it. This i)roved to be a 

 much higher mountain than the other, and my back was 

 almost broken when we reached the top of it. We saw 

 plenty of fresh Sheep-tracks as we went uj:), however, and 

 the knowledge that at last we had found the home of the 

 Big Horns sweetened the toil. 



Near the top of the mountain, we met a gentleman from 

 Victoria, British Columbia. He told us that if we had 

 come to hunt Sheep we need go no farther, for we were 

 then in a land where they were abuudant. He had been 

 there, he said, ten days, and had killed nine — all old rams. 

 He could have killed many more in the time, but had shot 

 only such as he wanted — such as had fine, large horns. 

 The proof of what he said lay all around his camp. Sturdy- 

 looking old heads, with massive, rolling horns, were on 

 every log; plump, fat hams hung from the trees, and 

 skins were spread upon the ground. Mr. Pike said he had 

 finished his hunt, and should start for home the next day, 

 when we would have the field all to ourselves. 



We made camp on the bank of a little spring brook, and 

 tied the dog to the largest tree in the grove with the largest 

 rope we had. Then we started out, in oj)posite directions, 

 to prospect for game. I had gone but a short distance, 

 when the dog showed up, smiling, and ready for a run. 

 He had chewed the rope in two. With a club, I hit him a 

 blow across the hinder parts that sent him toward the 

 camp howling like a Coyote. From the top of a ridge, I 

 saw a band of seven Sheep quietly feeding on an open 

 plateau half a mile away. 



I made lively time over the intervening ground, and 

 crawling cautiously to the toj) of a ridge near them, peered 

 over. They had lain down, and were quietly chewing their 

 cuds and basking in the afternoon sun. I was not yet near 



