SHEEP-HUNTING 191 



a good chance of a shot, or, at any rate, of a 

 stalk. 



When I reached the top I found the tracks led 

 down through the notch about twenty or thirty 

 yards, and then stopped ; and on looking about me 

 I discovered that my friend, this crafty old ram, 

 had gone down a little way so as to deceive me, had 

 then made a violent leap on one side, gone straight 

 back again through the notch, climbed up to the 

 top of a pile of rocks there, and no doubt had been 

 looking at me and laughing as I toiled laboriously 

 up the hillside after him until I got unpleasantly 

 near, when he had stared off in the direction of the 

 top of Long's Peak. It was now about three o'clock 

 in the afternoon, and of course I had to give up the 

 chase and scramble down the mountain as best I 

 could. The ground was so dangerous that I was 

 obHged to go very carefully, and it was dark before 

 I got to the bottom of the deep ravine. 



I was very tired by this time, having been up 

 before daylight, and working hard all day with 

 nothing to eat ; and I was getting awfully cold 

 also, for I had left my coat behind. However, I 

 had to climb up the opposite slope, which I eventu- 

 ally succeeded in doing, and then had to look for 

 my coat, but could not find it anywhere. Then I 



