Colorado -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Outdoor books; Rocky Mountain National Park (Colo.) -- History; Rocky Mountains
A heavily horned ram led the way down Thatch-Top. He was followed by
two young rams and a number of ewes, with two small lambs in the rear.
They were in single file, each well separated from the others. Down
this frightful wall the lambs appeared to be going to certain death.
At times they all followed the contour round small spurs or in niches.
In places, from my point of view they appeared to be flattened against
the wall and descending head foremost.
There was one long pitch that offered nothing on which to stand and no
place on which to stop. Down this the old ram plunged with a series of
bouncing drops and jumps,--falling under control, with his fall
broken, checked, and directed, without stopping, by striking with the
feet as frequently as was necessary. First came three or four
straightforward bouncing dives, followed by a number of swift zigzag
jumps, striking alternately right and left, then three or four darts
to the right before again flying off to the left. At last he struck on
a wide ledge, where he pulled up and stopped with masterly resistance
and stiff-legged jumps! Mind controlled matter! This specialty of the
sheep requires keen eyesight, instant decision, excellent judgment, a
marvelous nicety in measuring distances, and a complete forgetfulness
of peril. Each ewe in turn gave a similar and equally striking
exhibition; while the lambs, instead of breaking their necks in the
play of drop and bounce, did not appear to be even cautious. They
showed off by dropping farther and going faster than the old ones!
This was sheer frolic for these children of the crags.
Down a vertical gulley--a giant chimney with one side out--they went
hippety-hop from side to side, and at the bottom, without a stop,
dropped fifteen feet to a wide bench below. The ram simply dived off,
with front feet thrust forward and with hind feet drawn up and
forward, and apparently struck with all four feet at once. A number of
others followed in such rapid succession that they appeared to be
falling out of the air. Each, however, made it a point to land
to the right or the left of the one it was following. Two ewes
turned broadside to the wall as they went over and dropped
vertically,--stiff-legged, back horizontal, and with head held well
up. The lambs leaped overboard simultaneously only a second behind the
rear ewe, each lamb coming to a stop with the elastic bounce of youth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account