April lo, 1909 ] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
575 
got some hogs, goes out autumn, kills plenty 
of deer and sheep, brings them down and hangs 
them up and feeds his hogs all winter. Now¬ 
adays in winter the animals stay mostly back 
in the hills. Sometimes, though, snow deep, they 
come down.” 
‘‘Well, Baptiste,” I asked, “where are they 
now?” 
“Don’t know,” was the reply. “iSlaybe goats 
close by in mountains near the river, but deer 
all further back in higher hills and sheep back 
further still. Maybe find goats in one or two 
hours’ walking; deer, one day’s riding; sheep, 
two days’ riding.” 
The Youngster was anxious to stop here and 
begin to hunt at once, but it seemed to me better 
judgment to keep on for a day or two further 
up the stream and so get further from the scat- 
train frequently splashed through little brooks 
running from the hills down across the river 
bottom to the main stream. On one of the 
larger of these brooklets we camped one even¬ 
ing and early the next morning, leaving every¬ 
thing in the camp as it stood, we took rifles and 
cartridge belts and with Baptiste struggled up 
the steep talus until we entered a high narrow 
valley from which the mountains rose sharply 
on either side in a series of steps whose steep 
sides were clothed with pine trees. 
As we walked along we watched the moun¬ 
tainside sharply for goals. Several times we 
thought we saw one, but when we stopped and 
examined it with the glasses, found that the 
white spot was either a white stone or some 
weathered tree trunk or stub, which time and 
the rains and snows of successive winters had 
I, after waiting a reasonable time for them to 
get to them and shoot, would go on up to the 
head of the valley where I thought there was 
a good prospect of seeing a good big goat. 
Those that we had been looking at were ap¬ 
parently either a mother and her young or else 
two young goats. 
The Youngster started off with Baptiste in 
quite high feather, and it was evident that he 
expected to bring back a good trophy to camp. 
I stayed there for a while and smoked my pipe, 
watching the two men as they climbed and 
noting the progress they made and how near 
they were getting to the quarry. At length they 
passed behind a fringe of trees which hid them 
from me and when they had gone out of sight 
I rose to my feet and loitered on up the valley. 
Soon I heard two shots, one after another, and 
GOING FURTHER UP THE STREAM, 
ON A SIDEHILL TRAIL, 
tered settlements along the river. There was a 
point not far beyond, where the Smilkameen, 
which flows wholly in British territory, and the 
Methow which, rising in British Columbia, flows 
south into Washington, are close together. I 
had an idea that on the divide between these 
two streams we might find sheep, and I felt 
sure that goats and deer might be met with al¬ 
most anywhere. For the sheep some climbing 
would have to be done. 
The Youngster acceded to my suggestion and 
we went on. For two days nothing happened 
more exciting than seeing a young doe along 
the trail, which promptly jumped into the bushes 
and was not shot at, and the finding by the 
Youngster of a giant sheep skull carrying a pair 
of immense curving horns under the great cliff 
near which we camped. Unfortunately they had 
lain out in the weather three or four years and 
were so cracked and splintered that it hardly 
seemed worth while to load them on a pack. 
At last we had gotten well back from the last 
Indian ranch and Baptiste told us that there 
were no houses further up the stream. It 
seemed well enough then that we should stop 
here for a day and that the Youngster could be 
given a chance to see a goat if one could be 
found. The lower country where we were travel¬ 
ing was still arid. We had seen one or two 
flocks of sage hens, unfailing indications of a 
drouthy climate, yet as a matter of fact the 
mountains were full of springs and the pack 
silvered with age. At length, however, as we 
rounded a point of the hill, I saw two spots 
which to me looked more like goats than any¬ 
thing before seen, and a moment later Baptiste 
nodded to me in a satisfied and positive way 
as if to say, “Those are goats at last.” The 
glasses confirmed my suspicions. iThere lay the 
animals on a point of rock overlooking the 
valley and evidently unapproachable from any 
side except from above, where there was a 
fringe of trees, behind which one might get up 
within easy shooting distance. 
“Bad place,” said Baptiste. 
“Yes,” I assented, “very bad, Baptiste. The 
only way to get at them is to go far around.” 
“Yes,” said Baptiste, “that’s the only way, and 
maybe before we get around they see us and 
go.” 
“That’s true,” I answered, “but that is a 
chance we’ve got to take. There’s no way to 
get at them from this side.” 
We started on, watching the goats out of the 
corners of our eyes, but not again stopping to 
look at them. When we passed out of sight 
they had not moved. Just around another point 
of the cliff lay two more goats as far off as the 
first two, but in a position somewhat better for 
stalking because it might be possible to climb 
the rocks which lay behind them and so to be 
out of sight and scent. 
I told the Youngster that he had better go 
with Baptiste after the last two goats, and that 
concluded that the Youngster had done what 
he could, and that now it was time for me to 
go forward to see what there was at the head 
of the valley. Ornis. 
[to be concluded.] 
Wants to Join a Hunting Party. 
Newberry, S. C, April i.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I am extremely well pleased with your 
magazine, especially so with the hunting articles 
and trust you may be fully recompensed for the 
efforts you are making in behalf of what game 
there now is in Canada and the United States. 
I read with very much interest the article in 
the last number, describing a moose hunt in 
New Brunswick. I am now arranging a trip 
to New Brunswick for moose and deer and 
would like to get into communication with any 
person whose party is not yet fully made up, 
with a view of joining same if mutually agree¬ 
able. Should this meet the views of others now 
planning a trip for Sept. 15 to Oct. i, if they 
will communicate with me through your office 
we may each be of benefit to one another. 
United States. 
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