378 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



enough to make sure of my aim ; and. as the light wind was 

 favorable, I got behind a large fir-tree that stood farther 

 out on the prairie toward them, and crawled cautiously to 

 it. Then I moved carefully to one side and took a look at 

 them. Beautiful creatures! Their glossy, gray coats glis- 

 tened in the autumn sun, and their large, lustrous, dark 

 eyes were now plainly visible. There were three ewes, three 

 lambs, and a ram. The father of the herd had but a small 

 pair of horns, however, and to this fact he owes his life, if 

 he be still alive and well, as I hope he is. 



I selected the largest ewe, as I wanted the heads of a 

 family, for my collection, and training the Winchester so 

 that the little gold front sight gleamed on her side, just 

 back of the shoulder, pressed the trigger. The band sprung 

 to their feet, huddled close together for a moment, looking 

 in every direction for the source of the deafening roar. I 

 remained hidden, and being unable to sight or scent me, all 

 but the ewe I had aimed at went bounding away down an 

 almost perpendicular mountain-side, over rocks and among 

 trees, and in a moment were out of sight. The one that had 

 been my target started with the others, but after going per- 

 haps twenty or thirty feet, she stopped, with her head down, 

 paused a moment, turned two or three times around, sank 

 down, and died without a struggle. The Express bullet 

 had done its work effectually. Two ribs were broken where 

 it went in, three where it came out, and her lungs were torn 

 to shreds. 



Returning to camp, I found the half-breed there, with 

 .the head of a large ram that he had killed. He reported 

 having seen two large herds. The evening was devoted to 

 skinning and preparing the heads of the two specimens, to 

 cooking, eating, cleaning rifles, etc. We gathered dry logs, 

 and branches of fir, pine, and cedar, and made a roaring 

 fire that might have been seen from mountains ten miles 

 away. We were in a hunter' s paradise. Grame was abun- 

 dant all about us, awaiting the test of our skill in hunting 

 and shooting, on the morrow; our stomachs were full of 

 good, nutritious food; a cold, clear mountain brook war- 



