384 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 27, 1894. 
A QUEER PAIR. 
They were a queer pair were Dr. Lloyd and his servant, 
Dawson. The Doctor was of that peculiar type of Eng- 
lishman quite frequently met with in this country who 
can see little good in anything that bears the American 
trade mark. No matter how really meritorious were the 
things that were brought to his attention, he was always 
ready with some comparison which made them seem but 
poor sticks indeed when compared with similar things to 
be found in England. He had expended a good deal of 
money on his weapons, etc. , and really possessed a very 
superior outfit, and he never wearied of comparing them 
with such American weapons as were owned in the camp, 
and, needless to say, much to the disparagement of the 
latter. Coupled with this was a most profound convic- 
tion that while there might possibly be found in England 
men similarly endowed with the most superior qualities, 
yet all Americans, even the brightest, were a very inferior 
lot compared with him. He was, I think, without excep- 
tion the most offensively egotistical individual I ever 
encountered, and he disgusted even the other Englishmen 
in camp, several of whom were not without strong con- 
victions concerning the superiority of everything English. 
He was quite a large stockholder in the mining company 
to which I made reference in my previous article, and he 
visited the camp not only for the purpose of looking after 
his investment, but also to take in some of the big-game 
shooting in the vicinity, of which he had heard very 
glowing accounts. 
Like Cervantes in his travels, he took with him a faith- 
ful squire, Dawson by name, and if in the master's make- 
up there was lacking in any respect a full complement of 
disagreeable qualities, Dawson unquestionably supplied 
the deficiency. To the extent of his capacity he aped 
his master's manners in the fullest degree, and the super- 
cilious contempt which he affected for everything Anier- 
can soon made him an exceedingly offensive personage 
in camp. To judge from his talk, he was the most fear- 
less of mortals, and the number of physical conquests 
which he boasted of marked him as a man who could 
have done Tom Sayers and Jem Mace together without 
turning a hair. The men in camp, however, sized him 
up quite differently, and the number of pranks which 
they played upon the fellow afforded no end of amuse- 
ment to every one except himself. There was one excep- 
tion, however, for the Doctor, to whom he related his 
woes, seemed to consider them a slight upon himself, and 
he protested with a great show of wrath against the in- 
diguities which were visited upon his servant. 
To see them start out upon a hunt was an occasion 
which never failed to bring out the whole camp, and 
while there was an evident effort to preserve a fitting 
degree of dignity in the presence of one who was suck 
an important stockholder in the company, yet the spec- 
tacle was one which affected the risibles of the men in a 
manner at times quite uncontrollable. The Doctor, ac- 
cording to his own frequently related accounts, had a 
well established record as a mighty nimrod, yet to his 
own and Dawson's infinite disgust, his forays in the vicim- 
ity of the camp were invariably unsuccessful. As the 
Doctor explained it to me, it was the "blawsted" game 
that was at fault, and he bitterly inveighed against the 
perfidious blacktail and elk, which declined to permit 
such a well equipped and thorough sportsman to get a 
shot at them. 
Some little time after his arrival I bagged one day a 
fine pair of mountain sheep, both being rams with superb 
horns, and it filled the Doctor with a most consuming 
envy and apparent wrath toward me, he seeming to con- 
sider my success in some way as a direct reflection upon 
his own skill as a sportsman. He made no end of fun of 
my gun, a homely but honest old Springfield, which had 
been restocked and resighted, and he wasted vast quanti- 
ties of withering sarcasm upon the fate which should 
bring success to such a gun in the hands of a mere Ameri- 
can boy. and yet permit such a combination as he and 
Dawson and their well-equipped arsenal to return after 
many attempts unsuccessful. His comments nettled me 
considerably at times, but 1 was an employe of the com- 
pany and was in the possession of a fairly good salary, 
which I didn't care to throw up for the sake of explaining 
in detail to the Doctor my candid opinion of his person- 
ality, and besides I knew that in the opinion of others 
his talk only deepened the disgust generally felt for him, 
and rather benefitted me than otherwise. Suddenly, 
however, his manner toward me changed, and he ven- 
tured on several occasions to remark in a patronizing 
manner that with a good weapon and proper instruction 
I might eventually succeed in becoming a fair sportsman. 
About this time the manager of the company ap- 
proached me one day and asked me as a favor to him to 
take the Doctor out and try to give him a chance to bag a 
sheep. The Doctor was, he said, exceedingly anxious to 
get one, and as it might affect his feeling toward the 
company he was very anxious that I should do what I 
could to help him. Of course there was nothing left for 
me under the circumstances but to consent, and I in- 
formed him that I would gladly endeavor, to the extent 
of my humble ability to help the Doctor along. 
And thus it came about that rather late one forenoon 
a few days after this the Doctor, Dawson and I started 
out. I endeavored to get an earlier start but the Doctor 
and his squire consumed so much time with their prepar- 
ations, that it was nearly noon before we got away. I 
endeavored to induce the Doctor to leave Dawson behind, 
urging that our chances of success would be much better 
without him, but he would not hear to it, and intimated 
quite plainly that in his opinion his servant could give 
any one in camp cards and spades- in the game 
of sport, and then win in a canter. I fancy, however, 
that I did not very well conceal my disgust at 
his presence, for he occasionally bent upon me very 
wrathful glances and several times compared the Doctor's 
handsome Westley Richards express with my plain old 
gun in terms which he evidently fancied would be very 
galling to me. I paid no attention to him, but as he kept 
up an incessantltalking even after we were well on our 
way up the mountain side, 1 intimated quite forcibly to the 
Doctor that if he expected to get a shot at anything dur- 
ing the day, he would fc have to muzzle the chatterbox 
behind him. My! but didn't Dawson look daggers at me; 
but he subsided at the Doctor's suggestion that he had 
better reserve his talk until we got back to camp. 
My objective point was a high, rocky, precipitous moun- 
tain several miles to the north of camp, which I knew bv 
experience was the likeliest place to find the game we 
were in search of. The way led up over a high, steep 
and heavily wooded mountain, and just before we 
emerged from the timber at the top I detected several 
antelope in the open ground beyond and above us. The 
character of the ground and direction of the wind made 
stalking very difficult, if not impossible, a fact which I 
communicated to the Doctor, but he seemed to think that 
he could succeed in getting a shot, in which opinion of 
course Dawson agreed. He seemed so sanguine as to his 
ability in the matter that I told him to go ahead and try, 
and that I would stay behind and take care of the horses. 
So he and his squire started out, and the antics they went 
through during the next half-hour in affecting what they 
doubtless thought to be a truly scientific stalk, were 
enough to make a cat laugh. So absorbed was the Doctor 
with the idea of finding ground that would admit of his 
approaching the game, that he forgot all about the direc- 
tion of the wind, and just when he was congratulating 
himself that he had found the way to certain success, the 
antelope got a whiff of the tainted air, and were off like 
a flash. Neither the Doctor nor his servant, however, dis- 
covered their flight, as they were following up a slight 
ravine which hid the antelope from their observation, and 
it must have been fully a quarter of an hour before the 
true facts dawned upon them. When they returned to 
where I had been waiting for them, they were filled with 
a measureless contempt for the American antelope, which 
the Doctor hotly declared to be the most beastly brute in 
existence. 
Some little time afterward, while traversing the other 
slope of the hill, we jumped a couple of antelope which 
had evidently been lying behind a large rock. They were 
not to exceed 125yds. away when I first saw them, and I 
hurriedly called the Doctor's attention to them and told 
him to shoot. They were at least 200yds. away when he 
did shoot, and when I saw his ball throw up the dirt at 
least 50yds. this side of them I fired. It was a very un- 
certain and difficult shot, and I had very slight hope of 
being successful, but by a lucky chance I placed my ball 
just back of the fore shoulder of the rear antelope as 
neatly as though it had been a standing shot at 50yds. 
The antelope ran perhaps 50yds. or more when suddenly 
I detected a wavering of its hind quarters, and in another 
moment it pitched over. Its fall was greeted with a 
mighty shout from the Doctor and Dawson, and just as I 
was pluming myself upon the fact that I had furnished 
them incontrovertible evidence of the fact that my 
homely old American gun was of some account after all; 
the Doctor fairly took my breath away by declaring with 
the most delighted assurance: "I thought I couldn't 
have missed him for I held right on him when I shot." 
"Hof course you didn't miss 'iru," chimed in Dawson, 
"for hi saw the hair fly when you 'it 'im." 
I then quite politely but positively insisted that the ball 
from the Doctor's rifle struck the ground at least 50yds. 
this side of the antelope, but the master and man laughed 
me to scorn, and ridiculed the idea that it was my shot 
which did the business. I was considerably nettled by 
their actions and felt quite disposed to say something 
rather harsh, but recollecting the character of my mission 
I restrained myself. 
"We can undoubtedly tell who killed the antelope," I 
said a moment later, "by the character of the wound," 
for there is no mistaking generally the wound which the 
express bullet makes. 
Investigation showed very clearly that it was my bullet 
which did the work, but the Doctor was not disposed to 
concede that he had been in the wrong, and contended 
quite vigorously that the character of the wound proved 
nothing. Had he shown the slightest conception of the 
ethics of true sportmanBhip, I would gladly have encour- 
aged him in the belief that it was his bullet which laid 
the antelope low; but he was such an unmitigated, intol- 
erable hog that I could not restrain the disposition to make 
him feel that in my opinion, at least, his claim was with- 
out the slightest foundation in fact. 
After this nothing of any moment occurred for quite a 
long time. We were traversing the high tops above tim- 
ber line, and from frequent points of vantage there were 
spread out before our vision scents of incomparable 
grandeur and beauty. Peak after peak rose in lines of 
massive, picturesque ruggedness, and all infinitely mel- 
lowed and beautified by the hazy blue perspective of 
countless peaks stretching away as far as the eye could 
reach. On two or three occasions I called the Doctor's 
attention to some view which seemed to me particularly 
fine, but my only response was a grunt of constrained 
assent. I really think that all the time he was cudgeling 
his brains for some invidious comparison, for he finally 
blurted out in response to some particularly enthusiastic 
explanation on my part, "Ugh! I have seen lots of finer 
things in Wales." 
It was about 3 o'clock, I should think, when we reached 
a lofty mountain from which we obtained an excellent 
view of the mountain on which I had hoped to find sheep. 
We dismounted from the horses and subjected the.ground 
to a very thorough examination with our field glasses, 
but despite the keenest scrutiny we failed to discover any- 
thing which bore the slightrst resemblance to a sheep. A 
half dozen times or more I swept the face of the hill to no 
purpose, when suddenly, attracted by what seemed to be a 
slight movement of a rock, I directed upon the spot the 
closest scrutiny, and to my joy made out in a moment the 
distinct outlines of a sheep. It proved to be a ram with 
massive horns, and while I was watching him there came 
within the range of my glass, seemingly from behind a 
great mass of rock, three other large rams. Then one 
after another appeared, until I had counted thirteen, all 
rams like the first, and as they slowly moved along the 
face of the mountain, now and then stopping to feed, 
they presented a most picturesque and inspiring sight. 
I had thus far given the Doctor no intimation of my 
discovery, but now I told him to direct his glass toward 
a certain part of- the mountain. In another moment there 
burst from his lips an exclamation of surprise and de- 
light, and let it be recorded that for once, at least, his 
ever ready comparison was forgotten. He was, however, 
all eagerness for the fray, and it was with considerable 
difficulty that I restrained him until we had decided upon 
our plan of campaign. One condition I vigorously in- 
sistpd upon, and that was that Dawson be left behind with 
our horses. The Doctor demurred somewhat, while Daw- 
son was fairly beside himself at the suggestion, but I held 
to my demand stoutly, insisting that upon no other con- 
dition would I undertake to secure the Doctor a shot. 
Finally, after considerable parleying I carried my point, 
although it was only with the greatest reluctance that the 
Doctor acceded to my wishes in the matter. As to Daw- 
son himself, it was very difficult for him to accept the 
situation, and he bent upon me a series of withering 
glances, which he evidently hoped would drive me to an 
untimely and tragic end. 
The best point of approach was clearly from the east- 
ern side, and it was probably not to exceed half an hour 
from the time we first sighted the game before the Doc- 
tor and I on foot emerged from the timber nearly 
due east and about half a mile from where the sheep 
were. We left our horses behind with Dawson, 
although I took the precaution to fasten mine, thinking 
that possibly the sulky servant out of petty spite toward 
me might turn mine loose with the pretext that it had 
jerked away from him. 
Between us and the sheep was a sharp ridge, which 
made our approach up to that point comparatively easy . r 
although the ground was in places exceedingly rough, 
and it became more so as we drew nearer to the ridge. 
What an exciting moment is that when the stalking 
sportsman draws near to the point whence he realizes he 
is in all probability to catch the first close glimpse of his 
quarry. The uncertainty as to its position, the anticipa- 
tion of the beautiful and stirring picture which is soon to 
be revealed to his gaze, coupled with the eager hope of 
success, serve to thrill and quicken the heart-beats as can 
few other situations in the world of sport. I thought 
from the direction in which the sheep seemed to be mov- 
ing that we would probably find them but a short dis- 
tance on the other slope of the ridge, an opinion which I 
communicated to the Doctor, and as we drew near to the 
spot which was to determine the correctness of my sur- 
mise, we were both laboring under the keenest excite- 
ment. Indeed the Doctor seemed to be on the point of a 
nervous chill, and thinking a moment's pause might 
enable him to regain a little needed composure, I directed 
him to remain where he was while I crawled forward to 
reconnoiter. 
As I cautiously peered over the top there burst upon 
my view a scene to thrill the heart of a sportsman or any 
nature lover, for scarcely a hundred yards away and 
scattered over a comparatively small space of ground , I 
counted seventeen sheep, all rams and many with superb 
horns. A little to the north of them upon a command- 
ing knoll there stood a patriarchal looking old ram evi- 
dently doing sentinel duty, for he never dropped his head 
but swept with wary, restless eyes every avenue of 
approach. 
The memory of the first elk I ever saw— a superb old bull 
— late one beautiful October afternoon, clearly outlined 
on the crest of a . timber burned hill, has always remained 
with me as one of the most beautiful game pictures which 
I ever saw, but I never could gaze upon a mountain sheep 
in the rugged fastnesses of his chosen haunts without 
stirring within me a feeling such as no other game ever 
aroused. There is something in his picturesque, com- 
manding presence, and fearless grace of movement which 
seems in wonderful harmony with the Tugged grandeur 
of his surroundings, and I have frequently watched him 
thus when the instincts of the sportsman seemed lost in 
the reverent admiration of a picture stamped with the 
impress of a mighter artist than man. 
For several moments I drank in the beauty of the scene 
before me, and then sliding carefully back motioned for 
the Doctor to approach. As he took in the scene his 
delight and excitement apparently knew no bounds, and 
I could not refrain from whispering quietly in his ear: 
"Did you ever see anything finer in Wales?" 
My remark was not lost upon him, for he grinned a sort 
of foolish grin, and admitted by a negative shake of the 
head, that even Wales was not in it just now. Then he 
commenced to slide his gun forward tor a shot, and then 
I noticed that he was trembling all over like one in a 
chill. I readily saw that he was in no condition for an 
effective shot, and I urged him to wait for a moment, as 
there was.no particular need of haste. He seemed, how- 
ever, to have lost his head completely, for he raised him- 
self suddenly to his knees and threw his rifle to his shoul- 
der for a shot. His first upward movement was detected 
by the vigilant old ram on guard, who with a shrill whistle 
of alarm whirled about, bounded from his post and fled 
down the rocky slope. The others were not slow to follow 
his example, although for a moment the direst confusion 
and alarm prevailed among them. In a moment, how- 
ever, they were in full flight, and considering the rough, 
broken character of the ground, they moved with sur- 
prising speed. 
I was angry enough to have brained the blundering fool 
on the spot, for if ever a golden opportunity had been 
thrown away, this one had been. It was no time for 
regrets, however, and jumping to my feet I prepared for 
action. I had noticed before a large ram on the extreme 
northern edge of the band separated some little distance 
from the others, and as I rose to my feet I saw at a glance 
that he offered me a better shot thau any of the others. 
He was running almost broadside to me, a little quarter- 
ing, perhaps, and was hardly a hundred yards away. 
Dropping my rifle on him, I followed for several jumps, 
and ju3t as he paused for a moment on a large rock I 
fired. I distinctly heard the thud of my bullet as it 
struck him, but he proceeded on his way as though noth- 
ing had happened. I slipped in a fresh shell, and was just 
in the act of giving him another shot when I noticed that 
there was a very perceptible slackening in his pace. Then 
he stopped, and a moment later laid down, and then I 
knew that be was mine all right enough. Then I remem- 
bered that I had heard no shot from tbe Doctor, and I 
turned to see what was the matter with him. It was a 
curious sight which greeted my eyes. He was still on his 
knees with his rifle at his shoulder, but he seemed like one 
in a trance, directing his rifle first at this fleeing sheep 
and then another, but with no seeming thought of firing. 
"Why don't you shoot?" I shouted both surprised and 
provoked at the Btupid spectacle which he presented. 
My words seemed to bring him to slightly, for in a mo- 
ment he did commence to shoot, but 1 haven't the slight- 
est idea that he came withm 50 feet of a sheep. I then 
fired again, and again, and again, but with no seeming 
result, for they were long and difficult shots, and in 
