SEARCHING FOR RAMS 57 



see the ram, which saw me as soon as the ewes began to 

 run, jump up and run downward in a diagonal direction. 

 Four shots were fired without hitting him, but when dis- 

 tant about eight hundred yards he stopped and lay down 

 under a large rock. I could see that he was bleeding 

 badly, and thinking that he would soon become stiff, 

 waited quietly, watching the remainder of the band ? 

 which had again reappeared on the crest. They de- 

 scended a few feet below the summit and all lay down, 

 peacefully resting as if nothing had happened. The other 

 band of sheep on the high cliffs opposite had passed over 

 the crest. Once or twice the ram rose, staggered, and 

 dropped again, therefore I felt sure that he would die, 

 and continued waiting for a couple of hours and then 

 stood up to try a descent. The wounded ram immedi- 

 ately rose and slowly, with difficulty, walked downward 

 to the bottom of the basin. Not to alarm him more than 

 necessary, I seated myself and watched him through the 

 glasses. He often paused and stopped as if to lie down 

 again, but kept on. He seemed to limber up as he went 

 along a little faster, often making a jump, and sometimes 

 almost running. 



A mile away he crossed the basin and began to walk 

 up the steep slope opposite, then going without difficulty. 

 Higher and higher he went, still farther away, until he 

 lay down under a cliff. The only chance of getting him 

 was to leave him undisturbed so that he might die in the 

 same spot. My bullet must have struck him on the side, 

 too far back to make a quickly fatal wound. Then and 

 there I made up my mind to keep shooting at a wounded 



