1 86 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 



inspect more carefully the ground before us. But 

 no game was visible, and I was about giving it up 

 when a few grey specks came into the field of my 

 telescope, half an inch above an intervening ridge. 

 Sure enough these were wild sheep at last ! Strain- 

 ing my sight to the utmost I managed to make out 

 the large spread of their horns, and counted ten rams 

 lounging in the open, some two miles in front of our 

 position. Taba's face gleamed with joy as he re- 

 turned my glass, and I could see him anxiously 

 examining the nullah below us, and mentally making- 

 plans for the forthcoming stalk. In a moment we 

 got out of sight, descending over the rolling stones, 

 and dragging our ponies after us. There was a 

 noisy dislodging of boulders, and the ponies refused 

 several times to advance, but the sheep were a long 

 way off, and there were no other means of proceed- 

 ing. This dangerous scramble succeeded after much 

 trouble, and we found ourselves safe in the depths 

 of the nullah. Here we mounted again, following 

 down the stream the best part of a mile so as to 

 get well round the place where we had located the 

 herd, under shelter of the opposite slopes. The 

 question now arose whether we could cross the next 

 ridge unnoticed, and whether the further banks of 

 the second ravine would conceal us from the com- 



