r 5 6 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



presence of another lot of fifteen rams, but could 

 not tell whether they carried good heads or not. In 

 any case it was probably my last chance for the 

 day ; so I beckoned to Taba to follow me down to the 

 bed of the river, whose banks at this place were 

 fairly steep, and, as I thought, might afford hiding 

 for another few hundred yards. In five minutes we 

 were out of sight of the herd, and found as I had 

 expected that we might advance in this manner by 

 keeping as close as possible to the right bank of the 

 stream. In places we were obliged, in order to keep 

 under cover, to wade knee-deep in icy-cold water ; in 

 others we had to crawl over the stones in full sight of 

 the sheep, but happily only for a few seconds, till 

 another slope hid us from view. The wind was still 

 wrong, nevertheless I hoped that we might get within 

 shot before the rams suspected anything, as they were 

 some way above us. We soon found ourselves within 

 400 yards of them, but here ended the protective 

 slopes, and we could advance no further without 

 being discovered. I took out my " Zeiss " to examine 

 the herd from behind the last corner, and found that 

 several of the beasts were quite shootable, though 

 none of them carried first-class heads. They were 

 quietly grazing towards us, and I could see no other 

 solution of the dilemma than to wait on the chance 



