FOREST AND STREAM 
781 
played out and we had to wait half an hour for 
him to rest up. 
Owing to his delay, we decided to stalk a 'bunch 
of four billys that were within a couple of miles 
of us, leaving a bunch of twelve for another 
day’s hunt. 
After we started on our stalk, we saw the 
two miles gradually lengthen, uiLil I should say 
we travelled fully four miles around sharp shafts 
of rocks up one and down another, then over a 
glacier, always on snow, which sometimes carried 
our weight, and then dropped us to our waist, 
and in one spot nearly to our necks. 
When we were alongside the highest peak, 
Manson pointed to a pile of rocks, similar to a 
cairn, and stated, "That pile of rocks was erected 
by me ten years ago when I christened this moun¬ 
tain. Mr. Forbes and I climbed up here after 
a bunch of billys. At starting I told him to 
bring plenty of cartridges as goats were tough 
killing, so we packed fifty. On the way up he 
killed a billy with one shot at about 150 yards; 
yes, Forbes was a pretty good shot. We climbed 
up on this peak to have a pipe, when happening 
to look down at that hollow, I could hardly be¬ 
lieve my eyes, the place was literally packed with 
old billys. We climbed down and crept over to 
the edge of that ridge, when as if by arrange¬ 
ment those old goats began passing over the sky¬ 
line, one at a time, some 200 in all. 
“Mr. Forbes kept filling and emptying his gun, 
until the forty-nine shells were gone at about 
25 to 30 yard range, but nary a goat. 
“I told Mr. Forbes this old Goat Mountain, 
had a name at last ; hereafter it would be known 
as Forbes Mountain, so I just piled up those 
stones as an evidence of the christening for fu¬ 
ture generations.” 
As we were crawling, running, jumping, and 
in fact 'doing nearly every acrobatic feat one 
could think of, we saw our billys suddenly start, 
and run down the side of the mountain for the 
timber. 
“There’s a cougar after them,” said Manson. 
When we reached the spot where the goats had 
been, we saw the fresh track of a huge grizzly. 
Manson eyed the track wistfully as he re¬ 
marked, “There’s no use following him, he no 
doubt got our scent, but I'll get that fellow in 
the spring.” 
We tracked the goats to timber, and suddenly 
started them. Pop getting one which dove over 
the rocks to a fall of 700 feet, while I got a 
huge old goat with horns a little over ten inches. 
The shooting was done very quickly, as the 
goats were on the run and it took five shots to 
finish mine, while Pop got his with one. After 
my goat was skinned out, we climbed down to 
Pop’s which was smashed to a pulp, but fortu¬ 
nately the horns were undamaged, though they 
had been broken off the head. By the time this 
goat was skinned out, it was after two o’clock and 
Manson started off along the edge of the moun¬ 
tain as if he had on seven league boots. The 
travelling was a fright, as we were walking on 
a slope covered with ice and snow, and with long- 
stretches against which the snow had drift 
waist high. 
I tried to get Manson to slow up, as Pop and 
Jim were lost in the distance, but nothing doing. 
“No sleeping in the mountains to-night for me,” 
was the only satisfaction I got. My rifle was 
constantly snagging and my feet would shoot 
out and down I would go, up again and off on a 
run to catch up. This kept up until we came 
into the trail we had gone up in the morning and 
from there it was easy going, though the steep 
down grade soon began to tell on our knees. 
Darkness set in on the last ridge, and when we 
reached the river it was pitch black. We then 
realized that Manson’s haste had not been un¬ 
necessary. Crossing the river in the dark was 
neither pleasant nor simple, but with the aid 
of Providence, we landed safely in camp. 
Creekwah had a roaring fire in our tent stove, 
which we took advantage of at once, finding Uebe 
already out-stretched. His day had not been as 
successful as ours, for he had gotten only a 
small goat. I noticed at dinner Jim was not 
in evidence and later, that Manson didn’t come 
to our tent for the usual pipe and confab before 
we turned in. 
The next day was one of loafing and spying, 
the rest being certainly grateful to all. Manson 
again spied the twelve billys in about the same 
place we had seen them before. 
Uebe had come to the conclusion he wanted to 
get another stag, so he decided to go down river 
in the morning to Cedar Creek, and spend pos¬ 
sibly a week hunting deer, while Pop and I 
thought those billys looked good and decided 
to climb the mountain again the next morning, 
and if we were successful to break camp for 
home the day following. 
Our last climb of Forbes Mountain was on 
November 1st, which Pop and I, with Manson 
and David made in three hours and forty-five 
minutes, being a record trip according to Man- 
son. We had no difficulty in locating the goats, 
and as usual, Manson made a splendid stalk with 
the most satisfactory results, Pop bagging two 
splendid ones, and I, my third, also a fine one, 
but I am afraid our bombardment was almost 
equal in quantity to that of Mr. Forbes. 
Our return trip this time was quite some 
easier, as we followed a game trail down the 
valley, reaching the river without difficulty be¬ 
fore dark. In the morning, we broke camp and 
started for Lillooet. When we reached Cedar 
Creek, Manson dropped off with the bulk of the 
pack train, so as to be with Uebe during the 
additional time he was to stay out, while Pop 
and I, with David and Creekwah, and four pack 
horses hiked thirty miles to the Mission, where 
we had arranged for a boat to take us to the 
head of Seton Lake, so we could reach Lillooet 
that night. 
Manson’s last words as we left him were, 
“Be sure and don’t stop over night in any of 
the houses at the Mission, (which is an old In¬ 
dian Reservation) but camp out, if anything hap¬ 
pens that the boat does not show up.” 
Of course, the boat did not show up, and as 
it was Sunday, we were unable to raise anyone 
on telephone. The horses were pretty well played 
out, and things began to look rather bad for 
us as tents and all the grub had been left with 
Manson. Finally we succeeded in getting Lil¬ 
looet on the ’phone and the operator went out 
and hunted up the railroad contractor’s superin¬ 
tendent, who told us to ride up the lake to their 
construction camp and spend the night there. 
This we did and were treated most hospitably. 
In the morning we succeeded in getting a 
launch, which took us to the head of the lake, 
with our personal duffle, while we bade farewell 
to the Indians and horses, as they were to fol¬ 
low by steamer in the afternoon. Arriving at 
the 'head of Seton Lake, we secured an automo¬ 
bile and reached Lillooet in time for lunch, 
after which we pushed through to Lytton; had 
a bath and shave, then into our “store clothes” 
with time to spare for the nine o’clock train 
that bore us back home, our vacation being at 
an end. 
It was a great trip, and one that will never 
be forgotten. Even at this minute the sound of 
a pack horse bell brings gladness to my heart. 
M’CABE TAKES OFFICE. 
In Charge of Fish and Game Division of Con¬ 
servation Commission. 
Albany, December 1.—Patrick E. McCabe to¬ 
day assumed charge of the fish and game divi¬ 
sion of the Conservation Commission. 
On Top of the Divide. 
