A HOPELESS ERRAND 155 



sheep till we had gone almost half-way up the valley. 

 At this stage, just as we had passed a sharp turning, 

 a lot of about fifteen rams came into sight some 500 

 yards ahead of us. Unfortunately the wind kept 

 blowing steadily in our backs, and there was no 

 means of making a dttour without being; discovered. 

 So we both lay down, and waited in the hope 

 that fate might alter the direction of the wind. 

 Naturally it did nothing of the sort, and as we 

 crawled along the stones we saw the whole herd 

 get up, cross the stream, and trot up the opposite 

 slope, till they all disappeared over the last ridge. 

 I watched them the whole way with my glass, and 

 found that two or three of them would have been 

 most satisfactory trophies. We were now at a loss 

 how to proceed, for the wind kept blowing up the 

 valley, and there was no time that day for a circuit, 

 which would have taken us five or six hours to 

 make. So we continued on our hopeless errand, 

 quite prepared to see any sheep that might still be 

 in front of us speed mercilessly away, when Taba 

 suddenly stopped me, pointing towards a small grassy 

 boulder, some 800 yards ahead of us. It stood at 

 the very junction of the two streams forming the main 

 river, which divided up two narrow rocky gullies. I 

 crouched down, and soon found that we were in the 



