A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



should never have attempted it myself). Seeing 1 

 that the nyan were feeding away from us, he told 

 us to crouch as low as we could and follow him ; 

 then, climbing out of the ravine, we rushed across 

 the open Maidan for quite three hundred yards, in 

 full view of the nyan, to the shelter of a big rock, 

 where we lay panting, having gained this distance 

 upon them. It was a risky manoeuvre to attempt ; 

 but it was a case of shot or no shot. Here we 

 lay and observed them. I anxiously scanned them 

 through my glasses, half expecting to experience 

 the disappointing feeling to which I was becoming 

 accustomed of seeing nothing over thirty inches ; 

 but, this time, though the length of their horns is so 

 deceptive, I could see in a moment how different 

 they looked to any rams that I had seen previously, 

 and was sure that they all carried heads of over 

 thirty-eight inches, and two of them, I should say, 

 of over forty. But now a new danger presented 

 itself ; the wind, more than usually shifty, owing, I 

 suppose, to the fresh snow that had fallen, suddenly 

 changed and blew straight from us to the sheep. 

 Up went all their heads in an instant, and, though 

 we were a good eight hundred yards away, my 

 heart stopped beating as I thought that it was ail 

 up ! but, after a pause that seemed an age, during 

 which they stood like statues, they moved slowly 

 and suspiciously away and disappeared over a pink- 

 coloured ridge. We got up, and ran hastily in a 



stooping position (no easy matter when you are at 



196 



