A Touch of Nature 



walk on the top of the hill, whilst the other two 

 strolled along the bottom. I was still in a 

 frantically bad humour when I saw two splendid 

 rams coming up the hill straight towards me. 

 Just in front of me was an old tree-trunk with 

 the roots torn out of the ground, and behind 

 this I lay until those sheep walked up one behind 

 the other, till within twenty yards of me, when I 

 fired, and missed both without touching a hair 

 better that than wounding them. My cup was now 

 quite full, and I almost wished I had never been 

 out shooting in my life ! My half-breed was 

 quite nice about it, and persuaded me to have 

 one more try. After a bit I swallowed my dis- 

 appointment. We must have gone another mile 

 when the Fates willed it that I should find 

 another good ram. He was feeding by himself 

 in an excellent place for a stalk, and was about 

 three hundred yards away. I had time during 

 the stalk to get over my ill-humour, so that 

 when I eventually reached a spot eighty yards 

 from him, I had no difficulty in knocking him 

 over with one bullet. This head was what I had 

 been looking for so long a time. It was sixteen 

 and a quarter inches round the base of the horn, 

 and although the tips of the horns were badly 

 broken from fighting, yet the head was a beauty 

 and quite characteristic. It did not compare, 

 though, with the two I had so disgracefully 

 missed they were magnificent, they always are 



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