Hunting in Many Lands 



sio's expectations of fresh meat were now so 

 dim as to cast serious shadows on my skill as a 

 hunter; but, resigning himself to the inevita- 

 ble, he crawled to the summit of the ridge for 

 a view. He stared long and said he could 

 make out one ewe lying down under a juniper. 

 I tried the glass. He was right. His unaided 

 sight seemed about equal in definition to my 

 field-glass. On this occasion he declined to 

 use the glass, even with some appearance of 

 disgust. We could get no nearer unseen, and, 

 though the distance was very great, I decided 

 to risk a shot. 



I fired, in fact, two or three shots at the 

 ewe, alarming her greatly, when from beneath 

 a cliff which lay below us a band streamed out. 

 Two big rams started off to the right. Anas- 

 tasio and I ran down a bit, and I tried a long 

 shot at the leading ram. The distance was 

 great, and the run had pumped me a little. I 

 missed. The second ram was still larger. He 

 stopped a moment at 1 50 yards and I dropped 

 him. Anastasio grunted satisfaction. I swung 

 to the left, where the rest of the band was 

 journeying, sighted at the shoulder of a young 

 ram and fired. The ball passed through my 

 intended victim, dropping him, and entered 



74 



