stave off trouble and ill
feeling among his followers. It requires much tact to successfully
manage a pack of boys, representing all manner of dispositions. And
the scoutmaster who is the most successful in his line of business, is
the one who knows boys best, and has the happy faculty of entering
into their ways of looking at things, heart and soul.

During the progress of eating breakfast the talk was of course pretty
much all about hunting the big horn. The guide was called upon to
narrate all he knew concerning the famous Rocky Mountain sheep, often
called goats by the hunters; and which combine many of the traits of
the noted chamois of the Alps and the Appenines, with others that are
peculiar to themselves.

Any one who has seen them leap boldly from a ledge, and strike upon
their great rounded horns far below, is ready to declare that there is
not a remarkable spectacle in all the world of wild sport that can
equal the sight.

Possibly the Fox knew something concerning these queer mountain sheep;
but as Giraffe said aside to Step Hen, "it would needs be a monstrous
lemon squeezer that could ever hope to extract any information from an
Indian." Aleck, on his part, had often heard stories told about the
animals now occupying so prominent a part in the conversation of the
scouts; and he did not hesitate to hand over any information he had it
in his power to divulge, hoping that it might serve a useful purpose
to the intended hunters.

Davy was thrusting several more rolls of films in his haversack.

"No telling what a feller may run up against, once you start out," he
remarked.

"The only trouble is, Davy," commented Giraffe, "you can't make a meal
off'n the things, if you're hungry, and game shy. I think Step Hen did
a wise thing when he stuffed all he could get of eatables in his bag.
And Smithy too carries a lot. Oh! you'll do, now. Thad says you'd
better wait about half an hour, till the mists clear off'n the
mountains. It's real early, anyhow, and the sheep ain't agoin' to run
away; don't you worry about that."

There is nothing that bothers a boy more than having to wait, when
he's all ready to do something. The minutes seem to drag as though
they were leaden weighted. If Davy unfastened that knapsack of his
once to examine its contents, and make sure he had neglected nothing,
he did it half a dozen times, until Giraffe declared he would
certainly wear the straps out if he kept that up.

Those who