82 THE UPPER YUKON 



word, not only now but until we have finished 

 our hunt." 



"Then we go," he said, and leading the 

 horse and Billie we commenced the descent to 

 the canyon. Over a portion of the way it was 

 so very steep that our animals had to nearly 

 slide down. 



After crossing the canyon our course, by 

 reason of the wind, was to the left; we were 

 to climb the mountain on which the rams were 

 feeding by going around it and up by the 

 "back door" to a level plateau on top. The 

 going up was not very bad, until we had 

 climbed say two thousand to twenty-five hun- 

 dred feet, and all of this distance was done in 

 the saddle. Here the side of the mountain 

 was very precipitous, with a sheer uninter- 

 rupted slope down to the bottom. This slope 

 was mostly of soft earth, with here and there 

 a flat stone clinging to its face. We came to 

 a place where there was a long overhanging 

 shelf of rock, and directly under this the Chief 

 rode Charley carefully, on the very edge of 

 the steep decline. I took good care not to 

 look down the slope, but to keep my eyes 

 focused on the tops of Billie's long ears. All 

 went well until a sharp turn was made to the 

 right. A step before this turn was taken, we 



