152 A DAY WITH A RAM 



Back I doubled, round the hill, Lao- Wei after 

 me. Three minutes later we lay in a convenient 

 hollow, sheltered by a rock within a hundred yards 

 of our beast. He was partially hidden by a dip in 

 the ground ; another three yards would have 

 brought him broadside on in full view, when the 

 aggravating animal lay down. I could just see the 

 tip of one of his horns. There we lay for half an 

 hour, suspiciously watched by a malignant and 

 youthful ram. The wait was enlivened by a violent 

 altercation with Lao-Wei, carried on by signs and 

 grimaces, which ended in his sulky subsidence. 

 His object was to induce me to fire at the small 

 beast, whose attention he had gratuitously attracted 

 by his gesticulations, and to take my chance at the 

 big one afterwards. I was equally determined to wait 

 until a good chance at the latter presented itself. 

 The light was fast waning, and at length, somewhat 

 reluctantly, I made my follower pitch a few small 

 stones on to a rock-slide which ran down the hill on 

 our right. The first had " absolutely no efFec' 

 wha'ever," as my wine merchant at Oxford used 

 to say of his favourite claret. At the third the 

 small ram leapt from his rock as if shot from a 

 catapult, the alarm spread and the whole herd made 

 off. The big ram, mercifully alone, stood for a 

 second — and I ignominiously missed him ! As he 

 galloped after the ewes I again pulled the trigger. 

 Result — a miss-fire ! Just on the edge of the corrie 

 — the ewes were already streaming over — he paused 

 for a last look. As I fired a couple of stragglers 

 came up, and they dashed out of sight in a bunch. 

 We tore to the crest of the ridge. A second later 

 the sheep appeared. In vain I scanned each head. 



