AWAITING DEVELOPMENTS 269 



We were now on a small plateau, at the head of 

 two parallel grassy valleys, separated by low, rolling 

 boulders, from which sprang here and there rows of 

 rocky buttresses resembling ruins of old forts. These 

 afforded us capital shelter, under which we were able 

 to hide as we moved cautiously on. We continued 

 in this manner for over half an hour, reaching a last 

 clump of rocks about 500 yards from our coveted 

 quarry, which was still standing like a statue. A slant- 

 ing grassy saddle now only divided us, and we could 

 advance no further without risk of being discovered ; 

 so we lay down to wait till the beast should move out 

 of sight. The heat was intense that day, and the 

 sky cloudless, and it was evident that the ram was 

 pondering over which of the rocks he should choose 

 to lie under in the shade. 



As we lay awaiting further developments, a couple 

 of young rams came up to within fifteen yards of us, 

 probably likewise in search of shade. We both held 

 our breath, fearing to disturb them, and they slowly 

 passed us without having noticed our presence. These 

 had distracted our attention for some time, and when 

 we looked back for the big ram he was not to be seen. 

 We accordingly started to cross the intervening ground, 

 and on reaching the rocks where we had seen him 

 standings we found that there was another row of 



