254 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE SIBERIAN ALTAI. 



having with much labour crawled out of sight once 

 more, I had made one wild desperate rush to get round 

 them, reached my goal, and looked from behind my 

 cover, to see — nothing. For not a sign of a living 

 creature was to be seen ; rams and ewes alike had 

 vanished as completely as if the earth had opened and 

 swallowed them up, and the day which had begun so 

 brightly ended in a dreary dismal ride in the dark over 

 the miles of execrable ground that lay between us and 

 camp. 



