AMONG THE HIGH HILLS. 127 



body harmonize in tint with the rocks and 

 shrubbery that it was some time before I 

 could see it, even when pointed out to me. 



The wind was favorable, and we at once 

 drew back and began a cautious stalk. It was 

 impossible, owing to the nature of the cliffs 

 above and below the bighorn's resting-place, 

 to get a shot save by creeping along nearly on 

 a level with him. Accordingly we worked our 

 way down through a big cleft in the rocks, 

 being forced to go very slowly and carefully 

 lest we should start a loose stone ; and at last 

 reached a narrow terrace of rock and grass 

 along which we walked comparatively at our 

 ease. Soon it dwindled away, and we then 

 had to do our only difficult piece of climbing 

 a clamber for fifty or sixty feet across a 

 steep cliff shoulder. Some little niches and 

 cracks in the rock and a few projections and 

 diminutive ledges on its surface, barely en- 

 abled us to swarm across, with painstaking 

 care not merely to avoid alarming the game 

 this time, but also to avoid a slip which would 

 have proved fatal. Once across we came on 

 a long, grassy shelf, leading round a shoulder 

 into the cleft where the ram lay. As I neared 

 the end I crept forward on hands and knees, 

 and then crawled flat, shoving the rifle ahead 

 of me, until I rounded the shoulder and 

 peered into the rift. As my eyes fell on the 

 ram he sprang to his feet, with a clatter of 

 loose stones, and stood facing me, some sixty 

 yards off, his dark face and white muzzle 

 brought out finely by the battered, curved 

 horns. I shot into his chest, hitting him in 

 the sticking place ; and after a few mad 



35 



