130 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



got what I deserved by " pumping the lead in " in 

 such a reckless manner. His measurements were 

 35 inches along the curve by 17 girth. Taba 

 grallocked him on the spot, whilst I followed the 

 other two with hopes of a better result. On reaching 

 the ridge where we had seen them last, after a steep 

 scramble, I found one of the beasts lying dead on 

 the opposite bank of a deep ravine ; the third was 

 nowhere to be seen. So I continued along a pre- 

 cipitous slope, covered with rolling stones. I could 

 see the blood-tracks here and there, but was unable 

 to judge whether they belonged to the dead one, 

 or to the animal I was still following. To my 

 disgust, a hail-storm came on at that exciting moment 

 of the chase, but I was not going to be beaten. 

 Taba now came up, and soon spotted my beast lying 

 on the stones about 200 yards off, with his head 

 towards us. We crouched down and lay motionless 

 for about twenty minutes, which seemed two long 

 hours to me. There was no hiding-place round 

 us, and as I was trying to creep up nearer to finish 

 him, the brute saw me and started off. By this time 

 I was fairly soaked by the snow, which had by now- 

 turned into sleet, and thought of abandoning further 

 pursuit ; but Taba was as keen as ever, and we 

 continued on the slippery rocks for some time straight 



