The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-10-27

Hill. He didn't hit the beast, either.
which was not strange at tho distance.
but his fusiliade turned the game OH
toward Roosevelt. And I never saw
prettier piece of work in my life than ne
did then with his rife. Ii was just the
s1me caliDre as the doctors and wheh
the colonel-I can't help calling him that,
though w1r WAS thu last thing any OF us
expected then-pulleG tho trigger twice.
at Us yards, the bull keeled over with
one ball through his side and the other
through his chest.
Il saw The Colonel get a fine sheep one
day. He ard Bill and l were sitting on
the porch. taking II easy. when Bill says;
Il saw a Sleeps track up on that butte
yesterday pointing TO the range right
In front OF US, across the valley. A
Rocky Mountain sheep Is about the rar,
est game We get out there. Bill had no
more than got the words out OF his
mouth when something poked its head up
over the cliff.
There's the sheep now says Roose-
welt No, / believe It's a black-tailed
antelope and I've mind 10 go after
him
'Back-tafled nothing said Bill
That's the whitest tailed antelope you
ever saw
by this time the Colonel was creeping
I'D the river with his rifle. We two sat
sun and watched him The air was calm
and clear as a bell and when ne was
q half mile off he could hear every word
we said. He ought 10 keep TO the left
and climb that coulee,' said BILL never
thinking the Colonel would hear him.
But he did keep 10 the left and began
crawling up the butte. which was all
nuted with guilies. Gimme them opery
glasses. said Bill--he always called the
Coloners feldglasses opery glasses-and
Just then the Colonel fired. That was
enough for us. and BIZ and | went after
him as hard as We could
" Did you get your antelope called
Bill, "a the Colonel stuck his head up
from behind a boulder
It's a sheep. replied the Colonel.
pushing the critter up over the rock IN
front OF him. It's a sheep. by George,
and 1 shot him through the heart
HIS LAST HUNT.
MY last hunt with Colonel Roosevelt
was late in November I guess he and ]
remember 1t mainly because we both
frOze our ears getting home TO the ranch.
He was anxious 10 kill a mountain ram
before he went back East. It's all right
10 shoot Rocky Mountain sheep, but a
whacklng big ram, with horns spread
like all out doors, is different. SO we both
made up our minds we must have ram,
and started early In the morning over the
divide between the Yellowstone and the
Little Missouri rivers.
by that time OF year the bunch grass
was so brown you couldn't tell IT from
the rocks. The country looked about as
has at ft,,o Tba I'm faq
raised their Jagged edges against a cold.
gray sky, and the only color in the land
scape was IN the sandstone and porphyry
strata Of the cliffs. We had hard OF It
making our way up 10 the crest Of the
divide. and Just as We got there. toward
evening, l saw something moving ahead
of Us.
" Easy SAYS !. and youll get your
ram.
" Where says he. and could see by
his voice he was all on thorns. We had
worked hard FOR this very chance. He
had his $3.50 rifle swinging easy over his
left arm. pointed about 400 yards I'm
front Of us a little down the ridge. II
was one Of the finest rams I ever saw,
his long brown hair so much lighter in
color than a ewes that he stood out
toerablv plain even among the boulders
and at that distance.
II was Just pointing the crittcr out
when he faced about. lifted his big horns
over rock he'd been grazing behind
and caught sight Of MS against the blue
sky. There he goes I yelled. for twas
no use keeping quiet any longer. Maybe
THAT ram didn't run. but the Colonel had |
seen him from the first jump and had his
gun going.
"Spat' went a bullet against the sand !
stone. Too far 10 the left. / yelled. Bini
The next one. quicker than I can tell H.
knocked up the dust a'ost under the
rams feet.
'Nows Your chance. said 7. for the
beast had been running almost parallel !
With the crest. and I was afraid every !
.econd he'd plunge down the blum and |
we'd lose him.
with that the rifle cracked once more !
md that time didn't see where the ball |
struck But did see the ram jump into |
he air. headed straight down the bluff. !
md disappear When we got 20 where we |
ost him. fearing 20 ind he'd made one |
II those gigantic leaps down a preclpice |
that the big horns are fond or In an emer- |
,ency. the Colonel gave a yell you could /
rave heard two miles. The rough riders |
avs Sherman Bell. OF Troop r. can beat 4
en- all on the yell; but the Colonel was
light in it with him that day. The ram
az ten feet down the cliff on a little !
helf OF rock. half over the edge and
lalf propped against a dwarf pine. He
vas stone dead and we got the finest
,air OF horns I ever saw on him. II was
fter midnight when we got home that
light. and we We're happy. even IL our
ars were frozen.
We can get new skin on our ears
aid the Colonel. but wei never get
mother - n, like that one "