HUNTING WHITE GOATS IN THE SELKIRKS. 87 
was a laborious undertaking and dan- 
gerous, for a misstep or a slip might 
have proved disastrous to life and 
limb. There was a crust of snow 
which made the going more risky, but 
we all reached the summit safe. 
Some strategy was necessary to ap- 
proach our quarry, but Mr. Wright 
was fully equal to the occasion. He 
posted us 
of goats, and after taking a needed 
breathing spell, we approached our 
game. When within about 250 yards 
we each selected a specimen, and fired 
at the same time. Both shots proved 
effective, and we watched the re- 
mainder of the flock flee in all direc- 
tions. The Doctor could not resist 
the temptation to try for another kill, 
and the way bullets flew around that 
mountain peak must have been a good 
imitation of the storming of San Juan 
hill. Another luckless goat became a 
victim of this fusillade, though if every 
shot had proven a hit not one goat 
would be left in that region. 
Mr. Wright and I watched the 
striking of the Doctor’s bullets, and 
both noticed that nearly every shot 
was low. When the Doctor’s nerves 
had quieted sufficiently for him to hear 
what was said, we called his attention 
to the low shots. He explained to us 
that he had read in Van Dyke’s works 
on deer hunting how shots fired from 
above would always pass over the ani- 
mal fired at. He had therefore fired 
low deliberately and in good faith. 
This was fortunate for the goats, but 
considerably shook the Doctor’s faith 
in hunting by the book. 
We dragged the carcasses to a con- 
venient spot, where we took off the 
heads and skins. Then began the 
hardest part of the day’s work, the 
descent. Going up was laborious and 
directly over a small troop 
dangerous; going down was twice as 
hard. Burdened as we were with our 
trophies, we had to proceed with the 
utmost caution. When within 1,000 
yards from our camping ground, we 
had to pass through an alder thicket. 
Suddenly I heard a grunt, a snort and 
a breaking of sticks, not 20 feet to my 
left. My first impression was that the 
Doctor had lost his footing and was 
rolling down the hill. However, the 
grunt was in a lower key than I was 
used to, and presently Mr. Wright 
said I had jumped a grizzly. Un- 
fortunately the brush was so dense 
that I could not see the bear, which 
we could hear tearing through the 
bushes as if he had some pressing 
business in the next county. 
We reached our tents late in the 
afternoon and devoted our attention 
to a square meal, followed by a bliss- 
ful sleep, which not even a porcupine 
could disturb. 
There are many grizzlies in that 
country but the jungle is so dense 
and the land so absolutely on edge 
that it is simply impossible to stalk 
them. Another hunter, who was in 
there with Wright ahead of us, said, 
after a day of hard climbing and pros- 
pecting of the many signs, 
“Why, Wright, there will be bears 
here 100 years from to-day.” 
Our trophies are now ornamenting 
our house, together with moose, cari- 
bou and deer heads, which we have 
taken on former hunts. Never did I 
enjoy a hunting expedition more, and 
never did I bear hardships with great- 
er cheerfulness, for the finest sport is 
to be had in those glorious mountains, 
and well deserved is a trophy when 
obtained in that grand and rugged 
country. 
Before marriage men pay compliments; 
after marriage, bills.—Life. 
