72 



RECREA '/VOX 



-n 



Calling my 2 Slaves from the fire, where 

 they sat intently watching Johnnie frying 

 bacon and making bannocks, I pointed out 

 my find. For a moment they looked stol- 

 idly, then turned back to the fire and the 

 cooking. Oh, c or one moment of the com- 

 panionship of white men! Oh, for a mo- 

 ment of Thompson! Even though he cloes 

 not like mountains, he would like this. 



But twilight had come and my picture 

 blurred, and presently I, too, turned from 

 my worship to the fire, to bacon, bannocks 

 and tea; to wonder why Providence had 

 created this brutish race, who know but 

 two things well, to eat and to fast. I want- 

 ed to hit one of them a crack just to see 

 how much alive he was, but forbore. 



Next day we penetrated the mountains, 

 and late in the afternoon came to a wide 

 canyon well into the range, where, in a 

 grove of stunted pines, we pitched our can- 

 vas, resolved to try our luck at hunting. I 

 had a fancy that I knew enough of the hab- 

 its of the white sheep to be sure where 

 and when to find them, but I found there 

 was something yet to learn. In summer 

 the Arctic days are so long the sheep for- 

 get about going to bed or getting up. They 

 are, consequently, irregular in their 

 hours. They, also, frequently run down 

 hill when startled and are much more like- 

 ly to scatter when a shot is fired into a 

 bunch than the same animals farther 

 South. 



The day was well spent and I was about 

 to give up and go back discouraged to 

 camp, when one of my Indians proposed that 

 he explore the canyon wall a little farther. 

 He had gone less than 100 yards when he 

 stopped and beckoned me to follow. Be- 

 low him several hundred feet, on a ledge 

 seemingly only a foot wide, lay 3 young 

 rams. Below them again the wall, like 

 that above, fell off vertically for hundreds of 

 feet. How they had got there I could not 

 see from my position. I could not shoot 

 them where they were. The awful preci- 

 pice made me dizzy, and, besides, to shoot 

 them there would be to lose them. Be- 

 lieving they would come to the top at a 

 point some distance to the left, I directed 

 the Indian to wait till I had gone back to 

 a point where I could command the path 

 I thought they would use., and then to 

 startle them. He did as I ordered, and I 

 waited patiently for their advent, but noth- 

 ing came. I grew restless and hurried back 

 to the edge of the cliff. From that point 



1 could see them walking deliberately in a 

 direction opposite to the one I had mapped 

 out for them. Doffing hat and coat I ran 

 along the top of that dizzy cliff, hoping to 

 overtake them. 



Suddenly from out that yawning chasm 



2 of them flashed upon the top of the wall. 



I had no cover and they instantly discov- 

 ered me and fled. I fired twice but could 

 see no effect. I followed, looking for blood 

 sign and wondering what had become of 

 the third sheep, when as if to answer my 

 question he suddenly appeared at 200 yards. 

 I fired but missed. -He ran along the wall 

 away from me and then turned to take 

 a look at me. Again I fired. He fell tow- 

 ard me and bounded over the cliff. When 

 I reached the point where he fell he lay 

 mangled 300 feet below and beyond reach. 



While in camp one of the Indians had 

 pointed to a high mountain near us, saying 

 on it the sheep had a "nest." I determined, 

 therefore, to scale that mountain and spy 

 out the nest. The climb was long and hard, 

 but we reached the top at last. As we 

 approached the sacred ground 3 rams came 

 down and seeing us made off. Such ill 

 luck! Had we been 10 minutes earlier or 

 had we had a screen we should have got 

 them, but they were too far for a shot. 



Donald, one of the Indians, started in 

 pursuit, armed with his long-barreled muz- 

 zle-loading double shot gun, and for the 

 sake of seeing how he managed running 

 and loading I followed. 



Firing both barrels unsuccessfully soon 

 after he started, he at once proceeded to 

 reload. Carrying the gun in his left hand, 

 muzzle up, he manipulated the powder with 

 his right, catching the powder horn in such 

 a way that the powder ran into his hand, 

 and from his hand into the barrels. Then 

 putting the muzzle to his mouth he dropped 

 the 2 spherical balls into the. gun without 

 patching or wad, giving the gun a smart 

 blow to settle the balls, then the caps, and 

 the loading was done. 



As the 3 sheep ran I turned one a very 

 pretty somersault, and as they scurried 

 down the mountain Donald emptied both 

 barrels uselessly, at such an angle I am 

 confident the balls rolled out before the 

 triggers were pulled. 



After supper I strolled up a long ridge 

 and bagged a magnificent 4-year-old ram 

 with a fine head. 



Next morning, while I was trying to get 

 a picture of the canyon, I was surprised by 

 a big ram, my head under the focusing 

 cloth. Withdrawing, I saw him, but he fled 

 before I could catch him. However, he 

 ran toward the men who were skinning my 

 last night's victim. I yelled, the men saw 

 him and killed him. I howled and laughed 

 over our luck till the stolid Indians must 

 have thought I was worshipping some 

 white man's deity in gratitude for our good 

 fortune. 



Several successes marked the remainder 

 of our hunt, notably 2 magnificent speci- 

 mens which I killed the last day. My hunt 

 for caribou, however, was a complete fail-' 

 ure. 



