ure
to be had.

I was all eagerness to "shoot" them with my camera! I had watched them
so often I felt we were at least acquainted. But out of respect for
their tremendous dignity, I decided to keep my plans secret from them,
to approach under cover, to creep forward cautiously, soundlessly. To
my dismay, as soon as I got within a quarter of a mile of them, some
busybody of a sentinel would see me, and if I continued advancing, no
matter how stealthily, the flock would move away. It seemed offish,
not to say unfriendly; time and again I tried the same tactics, with
the same result. I was disappointed and puzzled.

I came to the conclusion that I had presumed too much on our previous
friendship, that such regal creatures could not be expected to
capitulate after a brief winter's acquaintance. I would visit them in
their little valley, learn their peculiarities--who would do less to
gain a friend worth while--and gain their confidence. Accordingly,
every day I strolled casually in plain sight, over toward their feeding
ground. They gradually lost their nervousness at my advances and
eventually let me come within a hundred feet of them.

One morning, after several weeks of this chivalrous conduct, I set out
with my camera, to spend the day with them. Not that they had extended
an invitation, but they unconsciously invited me. There were
thirty-two of them, including two huge old rams, grazing at the edge of
the valley. I approached them from the windward side, so they would be
doubly sure of my identity, for I knew that with their telescopic eyes
they would recognize me while I was still a long way off.

I halted first while about a hundred yards distant. Pausing a few
moments, I advanced again, until I cut the distance between us in half.
I affected the utmost indifference--I lay down to rest, I got up and
prowled about. They left off feeding, and bunched together, the wary
old rams on the far side of the flock. They gallantly let the ladies
and children be first to meet me!

For an hour the game went on. Little by little I cut the distance to
thirty feet. Some of them even forgot themselves so much as to lie
down and doze, others were discourteous enough to resume feeding, but a
canny few continued to watch my every movement sharply. Several times
I tried to circle round them; each time they edged away towards the
mountain slopes. At last they bunched together beside a jutting rock
and made such a