RAMS SIGHTED. 24^ 



What did he think of our chances of finding game 

 there? Well, he thought we might see something, 

 though, of course, on the other hand, we might not. 

 Of course I could have told him that much myself, and 

 I did tell him he was an ass— I was not in a very good 

 temper — which he of course did not understand, so he 

 smiled idiotically, and then betook himself to his tea 

 and his slumbers. 



The next day was a great day, because on it I secured 

 my first ram. It was not a big one, quite a moderate 

 head in fact, measuring only 42 inches ; but I was wildly 

 delighted when I secured it, all the more from havings 

 to put up with much anxiety, which at one time turned 

 to despair, before becoming finally possessed of it. 



We had seen four small rams moving slowly across 

 the heights on the eastern side of the valley, and I had 

 been examining them curiously through the glass, for they 

 were the first I had seen, but I soon realised that they 

 were very small, — far too small to be worth shooting, — 

 and was beginning to wonder if to-day was going to be as 

 yesterday, when Pombo suddenly exclaimed Koshkhor! 

 — the native name of the ram. I jumped up and hur- 

 riedly scanned the hillside, and sure enough there, far 

 away close to the horizon, was a herd of rams. I could 

 not make out if there were big ones or not, they were 

 too far ofi", but Pombo said there were, so off we went. 

 We were successful in getting above them ; but for 

 some reason, just when we were starting to crawl into 

 sight for a shot the whole herd bolted, and I had to 

 take a snap-shot at the nearest flying beast. I heard 

 the welcome thud which tells of a bullet gone home, 

 and ran on to the spot where the beasts went out of 

 sight ; but when I got there, search as I would, no 

 dead sheep was to be found. Presently a dark red 

 stain caught my eye, and then ensued one of those 



