62 STALKS ABROAD 



yards beneath through the snow. The sheep were 

 in a long-drawn string ; the ram, inevitably last. 

 Nothing had disturbed them, though as I lay cramped 

 and shivering on the ledge two lines kept beating into 

 my brain with monotonous persistency : 



" Do you know the long day's patience, belly down on frozen drift, 

 While the head of heads is feeding out of range ? " 



The leading ewe was working up a little alley in 

 the bushes but a hundred and twenty yards off. 



" At last," thought I, " I've got you ! " 



The ewe, horribile dictu, threw up her head. 

 The sheep behind her stopped feeding; there was 

 a rush down the hillside, and I, like the Highland 

 chieftain, was left lamenting. 



It is true that two hundred and fifty yards distant 

 they stopped, and I cut a little tuft of hair from the 

 ram's neck ; then they were gone and that finished 

 round one. 



Early the next morning we were off again. The 

 snow had ceased, and on reaching the summit of 

 the ridge, from which a splendid view of the oppo- 

 site hillside could be obtained, I saw wavering lines 

 of tracks pencilled sharply in the snow. Here and 

 there they ran, crossing and recrossing ; waving and 

 straight, woven into intricate patterns and fantastic 

 designs. I puzzled them out through all their 

 twistings and turnings, and there, at the end of 

 their meanderings they came to a full stop in the 

 shape of a little black speck. It was a small ram ; 

 near him were two or three ewes, and high up, 



