Hunting in Many Lands 



to the next shoulder, I at last saw it — a year- 

 ling mountain sheep — walking slowly away 

 from me, and evidently utterly unsuspicious of 

 any danger. I straightened up, bringing my 

 rifle to my shoulder, and as it wheeled I fired, 

 and the sheep made two or three blind jumps 

 in my direction. So close was I to the camp, 

 and so still was the cold morning, that I dis- 

 tinctly heard one of the three men, who had 

 remained clustered about the fire eagerly 

 watching my movements, call, " By George, 

 he's missed; I saw the bullet strike the cliff." I 

 had fired behind the shoulders, and the bullet, 

 of course going through, had buried itself in 

 the bluff beyond. The wound was almost in- 

 stantaneously fatal, and the sheep, after striv- 

 ing in vain to keep its balance, fell heels over 

 head down a crevice, where it jammed. I de- 

 scended, released the carcass and pitched it on 

 ahead of me, only to have it jam again near 

 the foot of the clifif. Before I got it loose 

 I was joined by my three companions, who 

 had been running headlong toward me through 

 the brush ever since the time they had seen 

 the animal fall. 



I never obtained another sheep under cir- 

 cumstances which seemed to me quite so re- 



302 



