t of the way, so utterly did it stake its safety on its
winter camouflage. The whole flock had been sitting in plain sight but
their snow-white coats made them hardly distinguishable from their
background. They faded into the landscape like an elusive puzzle
picture. In summer they had depended on their speckled plumage, so
like the mottled patches of sand and snow and grass and granite whereon
they lived, to protect them. They certainly put their trust in nature!

Around a turn, I came upon the old Patriarch. He was standing with his
back to the wall, facing out and back, for here the ledge he had been
following pinched out, and even he, champion acrobat of the cliffs,
could neither climb up nor find a way down. For several minutes we
faced each other, ten yards apart. I had heard that mountain sheep
never attack men, and that even the big leaders never use their
massive, battering ram heads to injure anyone. With this in mind I
moved up to within ten feet when a movement of his haughty head stopped
me. Somehow in his action was the suggestion that he might forget
tradition. One bump of his huge head would knock me overboard. There
was nothing but space for a hundred feet below, then sheer wall for
several hundred feet more.

Arrogantly he faced me, unflinchingly; his eyes of black and gold never
wavering; statuesque, his heroic body set solidly upon his sturdy legs,
his regal head high, his lodestone feet secure upon the sloping rock,
he was a handsome figure. He outweighed me about three pounds to one;
so the longer I looked at him, the less desire I had to crowd. At
length I mustered up courage to try him out. Slowly, an inch at a
time, I edged forward, talking quietly--assuring him that my intentions
were good, and that I merely wanted to learn how near a fellow might go
without his lordship's taking exceptions.

Suddenly he stiffened; half closed his eyes and lowered his head. At
the same instant he shifted his feet as though to charge. As I backed
carefully away, I recalled again that his kind had never harmed anyone,
but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and left him in undisputed
possession of the ledge.

On many a windy winter day thereafter, I saw "Big Eye" and his band.
Always I laughed a bit at my experience upon the ledge. The ram
appeared so dignified, so quiet, so harmless! Still, I had no fault to
find with my retreat that day.

One day there came a change over the world. Signs