404 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



real pines and firs that soughed in the morning breeze. A 

 fairy-like tarn nestled in the centre, and reflected the shrub- 

 bery that margined its banks with mirror -like fidelity. 

 Passing through this vale, we reached the steep ascents 

 on the farther side just as the blood-red morning sun be- 

 gan to peer above the mountain ; and this revealed to us 

 in a weird light the vast panorama of hill and plain, which 

 stretched out before us in all its grandeur. Magnificent 

 as the scene looked, and much as we should have liked to 

 have gazed long and earnestly upon it, time forbade us 

 such pleasure, so we were compelled to commence clam- 

 bering once more, and to strain our eyes in quest of 

 "signs." 



After beating about for an hour we came suddenly upon 

 them, and they were so fresh that we knew the sheep must 

 be somewhere in our immediate vicinity. Moving as noise- 

 lessly as we could, taking advantage of every shelter fur- 

 nished by shrub or rock, and peering about us with the 

 greatest cautiousness, as if we feared that the movements 

 of the head would startle the quarry, we advanced very 

 slowly ; so slowly, in fact, that it was painful to me, as my 

 heart seemed heavy with suppressed excitement, and my 

 breathing was short and labored. 



After crawling to the windward in this manner for half 

 an hour, I approached several huge bowlders that towered 

 upward from the ground to a height of thirty or forty feet, 

 and, on rounding one of these, I came suddenly upon five 

 sheep which had evidently only commenced their matutinal 

 meal, as one of them was just arising from its couch when 

 I arrived on the scene. Their sudden and unexpected ap- 

 pearance was as great a shock to me as my presence was 

 to them ; and for a second or two we both stood still and 

 mute, when they, with a loud snort, dashed for the summit 

 at a rate of speed I would not have credited them with. 

 Their movement aroused me also, and, taking a hurried 

 aim, I fired at them when passing in a bunch through a 

 rocky gate-way in the dell ; but I did not have the satis- 

 faction of seeing any fall. Deeply chagrined at my bad 



