he started in, while Number
Two shinned up the tree to get the jacks off en the limb. Number Four
hadn't came to bat yet, so the performance was due to last some time.
I got up on a big rock, outta range.

"Number Two was in the tree; Number Three flippin'; Number Four was a
rollin' up his sleeves an' gettin' ready for his turn. The third chef
was sure fancy! He juggled them cakes just like a vodeville artist
does. Of a sudden he cuts loose a batch that sailed up high an'
han'some, turned over an' cum down on the back of Four's neck--him
bein' entertained at the time by the feller in the tree."

Ned had acquitted himself well, his story had the tang of reality in
it, and he told it with rare enthusiasm. He was so clever, in fact,
that the younger guides, including myself, decided not to enter the
story contest that night. But there was one in camp who did not
hesitate; Andrews was his name. I had not seen this man on the trail
before, so listened as eagerly as the others to what he had to offer.

"Remember the mountain sheep we saw on Flattop?" Ed recalled as he put
aside his pipe. "Well, them wild sheep always has interested me.
They're plumb human some ways, I reckon. They sure got a whale of a
bump of curiosity, an' they beat country kids in town when it comes to
starin' at strange sights. Reckon there ain't nuthin' short of a
neighbor that's got more curiosity than them sheep. The old rams git
so wise they live two or three times as long as the foolish ones that
don't never seem to learn nothin'.

"Ole Curiosity, up in back on Specimen, is the biggest ram I ever saw.
He's sure curious, an' smart along with it. If trouble shows up around
Specimen, why Old Curiosity just ain't home, that's all, but hid away
somewheres in the cliffs. An' once when there was shootin' he went
over to another mountain till the hunters was gone. That there ole ram
got so famous that the fellers used to devil the life outta him.
They'd make a show of takin' their gun up the mountain jest ter see the
old feller hide out.

"One day I was guidin' a party up toward Lulu Pass. We was down in a
deep gully, with high walls. All to onct I looked up an' saw a bunch
of sheep. They hadn't seen us yet on account of our bein' in the
aspens. I flagged the party an' told 'em to watch.

"Guess some one was after the sheep, for they was in a hurry to git
across the gully. One at a time they jumped off the cliff an' landed
in the sa