252 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI. 



denly four officious females stalked slowly into sight, 

 and stood complacently surveying the scene, two 

 hundred paces beyond the rams. Here was a horrible 

 dilemma. The rams were beneath us, just visible when 

 we craned our necks upwards to their utmost extent, 

 but the females were in full view, and commanded the 

 situation, for to move either backwards or forwards now 

 would be to court instant detection. 



It would be useless to try to give any real idea of 

 the next two hours, for it is only the hunter who has 

 tasted the joys and the bitter disappointments which 

 assail him as he pursues his occupation amid the soli- 

 tudes of a great lone land who can know the depths to 

 which his feeling can be stirred, and no description 

 is required to add to the picture which he himself will 

 conjure up. As the sun slowly approached his cradle in 

 the mountains of the west, an intense silence fell upon 

 the earth, and the spell which Nature always weaves for 

 the mortal who is fortunate enough to find himself alone 

 with her came irresistibly upon me. Even the restless 

 females at length gave themselves up to the peace of 

 their surroundings, and lay down where they were, 

 while observing the precaution of fixing their gaze each 

 in a different direction. For an hour I lay in one 

 position, scarcely daring to move lest I should disturb 

 the stillness which reigned, and then a small bird flew 

 down and perched on a stone close by. He looked at 

 us, hopped a little nearer, and looked again. Then he 

 tapped on a stone with his beak, and the tap, tap, tap 

 sounded curiously loud to my strained senses. But his 

 curiosity was quickly satisfied, for he soon flew away 

 again, and when he was gone an unbroken silence 

 enveloped us once more. Once or twice one of the 

 sheep got slowly up, stretched himself, nibbled lazily at 

 some infinitesimal blade of grass, and perhaps moved a 



