June 6, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
893 
| an d following it, found two empty cartridge 
t cases recently fired. That simply meant two 
days further on horseback with provisions for 
but six days at most. 
The sheep, probably a dozen of them, were 
; then on that range, but they had been shot at. 
That means that instead of following the ridges 
they stay in the slide rock. Sheep cannot be 
approached from below; they cannot be seen 01- 
even heard if you hunt down wind. An attempt 
to reach them from above starts a small ava¬ 
lanche of slide rock, and the only remaining 
way of approaching is by walking at their level 
to leeward in slide rock which may be com¬ 
pared to still-hunting moose on a crust. We of 
course used our glasses constantly, and upon 
coming to a suitable trail Tom made a long de¬ 
tour while I anxiously awaited the chance of 
the sheep starting past me. Our efforts were 
unavailing, and so we reluctantly turned toward 
camp, picking up two blue grouse on the way. 
There were several bands of elk in our vicinity 
and their bugling was thrilling in the extreme, 
now from some adjacent glade and again com¬ 
ing to us faintly upon the mountaintops. Coyotes 
were in evidence, and several times we saw 
where porcupines had eaten the bark in rings 
around the trees. The pine squirrels around 
our camp were saucy and amusing; little chip¬ 
munks would hesitatingly creep to our packs and 
then scuttle back again to their holes. A soli¬ 
tary water ousel—the first I had ever seen— 
flitted from rock to rock and boldly plunged 
below the surface of the stream and walked 
along the bottom, emerging upon some stone in 
the torrent and so continuing up the stream. A 
saw-whet owl started in about dusk and con¬ 
tinued his saw-filing note far into the night. 
There were an abundance of grizzly signs in 
our series of parks, but none very fresh. We 
saw none on the trip, nor did we look for them 
except casually, as we were after other game. 
One morning we struck out at a lively pace 
and continued for two days, traveling about 
thirty miles each day. Our time was nearly up 
and our supplies low. We were out of potatoes, 
meat, and worst of all, coffee. We had foolishly 
left the packing of our food supply entirely to 
the cook. The second day we came to a more 
open country, more mountainous, but with a 
larger number of parks and open slopes. Here 
we made good time, passing several elk licks and 
counting several beaver dams, one made upon a 
rocky and gravelly bottom. 
The streams all through this country are rush¬ 
ing torrents of beautiful blue-green color, some 
1 of them alive with trout, although we did not 
wet a line on the whole trip. We passed a camp 
with about a dozen pack animals, the parties 
probably hunting elk, as no one was to be seen. 
About dusk the second day we rode into a beau¬ 
tiful park—our destination—and there in one end 
of it were three Flathead tepees. The party con¬ 
sisted of the chief, a herd of thirty ponies, two 
young men and three women. Needless to say 
we were disgusted. We had to go and ask their 
permission to pasture our horses with theirs. 
Our gladness at meeting seemed mutual. Tom 
told the chief that he was a ranger and I a com¬ 
missioner; that we had come to take altitudes 
and observation of surrounding peaks. The 
chief, not to be outdone, told us they had been 
there four days and had killed one cow elk. We 
afterward learned they had killed nine cows and 
for the last week had been running '“our sheep.” 
Honors were easy, and we made our lean-to 
of canvas in the further end of the park. That 
night the chief came over and we gave him some 
tobacco, told him we had no whiskey and showed 
him my rifle, a new Springfield stocked and 
sighted to suit myself. Before going he com¬ 
forted us by saying he had seen a bunch of 
twenty goats on a certain peak which he pointed 
out. Tom asked him what kind of tracks they' 
made, but he described goat tracks and Tom’s 
face was a sight to behold. After the chief had 
gone we decided he was still lying to us. Goat 
had never been seen in that particular spot, and 
if they really were there that meant another hike 
for us, as sheep and goat will not range together. 
Daybreak next morning found us making the 
ascent, and from what Tom had said of the 
country I felt sure we would at least see sheep 
before we got back. The whole day was interest¬ 
ing. Game trails abounded; some, centuries old 
perhaps, were worn deep where countless elk 
ing those “goats” with his own eyes. “If there 
is an old lunker,” he said to me, 'I’ll come back 
and get you.” Following his suggestion I went 
on straight up to the ridge above and there 
posted myself in the scrub pine growth, a nice 
little pile of cartridges beside me. I had been 
there an hour perhaps when I heard a sound 
over the ridge and below me, and peering over 
the ridge saw four or five Indian ponies loaded 
with elk meat toiling upward. I withdrew 
quietly, not caring to be seen, as one of the 
bucks would probably have staid near by see¬ 
ing me on the lookout for game. They passed 
on far below and were soon forgotten. Another 
hour passed. I lay upon my back in the soft 
pines smoking and drowsily keeping a lookout 
below me, when suddenly I was brought bolt 
upright by a peculiar sound below like hollow 
limbs struck against each other, then there was 
a sound of falling pebbles and rocks, and around 
the side of the mountain packed closely together 
and some seven hundred yards distant came 
ON THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. 
roamed the region undisturbed by man; others 
much more recent, some showing signs of elk 
or blacktail made that day. Once we came 
across the sign of a cougar made within the 
hour. About the middle of the afternoon we 
came upon the fresh tracks of a ewe and kid. 
but not a fresh track of a ram did we see, al¬ 
though old ones were abundant. Tired and dis¬ 
gusted, we made our way back to camp, deter¬ 
mined that if the morrow did not result in our 
seeing sheep we would buy a load of elk meat 
of the Indians and live on that together with 
what we might kill ourselves until we did get 
sheep—for get them we would, whatever hap¬ 
pened. 
We hunted until noon the next day over the 
finest sheep country, large tablelands and grassy 
swales, without seeing any fresh tracks. At 
noon we met one of the Indians who told us 
he had seen goats on the next mountain. Tom 
was suspicious. We had seen no sheep, but he 
knew no goats were on that mountain. It was 
five miles around it, but Tom insisted upon see¬ 
scrambling and crowding a bunch of little brown 
animals which I instantly saw were sheep and 
they were coming directly toward me. 
I was certainly anxious and excited, especially 
when they halted three hundred and fifty yards 
distant, and I saw they were all rams. I counted 
twenty of them. They were led by a kingly old 
monster who sprang upon a large rock, sniffed 
the air uneasily and looked behind him. 
I was in a quandary. I had a beautiful muzzle 
rest on a limb, was seated with an elbow rest¬ 
ing upon each knee, and was pretty certain 1 
could hit that ram, but if I missed a standing 
shot it was certain I could not make a running 
shot afterward at that distance. I decided to 
wait and was rewarded by seeing the leader 
spring down and come directly toward me at 
a trot, followed pell mell by the rest of the 
band. My heart fairly leaped into my throat 
as I shifted the rifle from the limb and waited 
for the time to fire. Nearer and nearer they came, 
gradually slackening their pace to a walk. Now 
was my time, and just as I shifted my rifle to- 
