IOO 



RECREATION. 



servations. On the morning of the 20th 

 the ascent was made. The smoke hung 

 low in the valleys, and therefore did not 

 interfere materially with their view. 

 The scenery was most beautiful. To the 

 North and East they could count over 100 

 peaks; while vast fields of snow extended 

 North as far as the eye could reach. At 

 intervals could be heard the roar of an 

 avalanche, as some great bank of snow 

 broke from its moorings and started 

 downward on its journey of destruction. 



The camp was on the head of a small 

 stream. It was decided to follow down 

 that, and on the morning of the 22d the 

 men arrived at the Chilaweyak. The 

 course they had marked out took up this 

 stream, and undauntedly they again 

 turned toward the region of perpetual 

 snow, through interminable intricacies of 

 fallen timber and underbrush. 



The provisions were beginning to run 

 low, and no game had been seen since the 

 goat was killed. On the 26th it rained all 

 day. and all hands remained in camp, 

 rolled up in their blankets, until the gnaw- 

 ings of hunger drove them out. 



Starvation then began to stare them in 

 the face. The allotment was one biscuit a 

 day each to each man, with such berries as 

 they could find. The fearfully hard work 

 of tramping over the rough country they 

 had encountered, together with the lack of 

 provisions, began to tell on them, espe- 

 cially on the old members of the party. 



By almost superhuman exertion they 

 reached a point, on the night of the 27th, 

 where they could see the head of the 

 stream they were following. The next day 

 they turned more to North, determined 

 to get above the jungles and nearer to 

 snow line, with the hope of securing meat 

 of some kind. 



Owing to the extreme weakness of some 

 of the men, camp was pitched at 3 o'clock, 

 while Austin took his rifle and went on 

 up the mountain in search of game. He 

 traveled but a short distance when he saw 

 7 goats standing on a cliff of snow and 

 ice looking at him. He stepped behind a 

 rock for the purpose of stalking them, 

 when the whole band wheeled and dis- 

 appeared. 



He then started toward the summit and 

 had gone but a few hundred feet when. 

 looking to his left, he saw a fine buck 

 within easy range standing on a cliff of 

 rock. Never in his life had he been so 

 anxious to make a sure shot as then. Care- 

 fully he rested his rifle on a cake of ice 

 and pressed the trigger. At the report the 

 goat tumbled over the cliff and out of 

 sight into one of the rifts of the glacier. 

 As Austin attempted to extract the shell 

 it stuck fast, and as he was tugging at 

 the lever 6 more goats came picking their 

 way down the ridge on which he was 



standing, passing within 30 feet of him. 

 He broke every blade from his knife, 

 but to no purpose, and was compelled to 

 watch the animals pass out of sight. Then 

 he returned to camp to give the sad news 

 to his comrades. As he entered the camp 

 his white face startled his companions, and 

 Professor Collins hastened to ask, 



"What is the matter, Banning? Have 

 you seen a ghost?" 



''No," he replied; "worse than that. I 

 have been within 30 feet of 6 goats and did 

 not get one of them." 



For a time the men were almost stupe- 

 fied. That shell must be removed or they 

 must starve. They commenced to work 

 more carefully than ever before. The gun 

 was taken apart, piece by piece, and the 

 barrel heated. To their delight, the shell 

 dropped out, and general rejoicing took 

 the place of despair. The rifle was then 

 put together and greased with a piece of 

 bacon rind, all they had left. 



The next morning it was -raining quite 

 hard, but meat must be had; so the gun 

 was tried, found to be all right, and Aus- 

 tin, accompanied by Dehaven and Belford, 

 with their pack straps, started up the 

 mountain. After a climb of 3 hours they 

 got above the clouds. While walking 

 along the summit 4 goats were discovered 

 on a ledge, some distance below; 2 old 

 ones and 2 kids. 



Belford and Dehaven remained on the 

 summit while Austin went in pursuit of 

 the quarry. He soon got within range, 

 and the first shot killed one of the old 

 goats, but she fell into the canyon below, 

 out of sight. The next shot knocked the 

 other over, and after falling and rolling 

 down the mountain, several hundred feet, 

 she also disappeared over the same fright- 

 ful precipice. 



The little ones were next attended to. 

 One of them went after the dams, but the 

 other was finally secured, after a perilous 

 climb, by Austin and Dehaven, of fully 

 1,000 feet. 



The hunters then returned to the camp 

 highly elated but extremely tired and hun- 

 gry, having gone the entire day, the most 

 perilous of the journey, on their one bis- 

 cuit each. They arrived late, but soon re- 

 covered their spirits while enjoying broiled 

 goat meat, and shortly rolled up in their 

 blankets to dream of home. 



During the night the fire burned low, 

 when 2 of the men got up to replenish it 

 and saw the most beautiful sight they had 

 ever beheld. They described it as follows: 



"The clouds had settled below us and 

 the moon had arisen full and beautiful. 

 It shone down on the clouds, making them 

 look, as they wound down the different 

 valleys, like gigantic snow white robes, 

 while about the camp, in all directions, 

 arose lofty peaks, which seemed to pierce 



