196 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



"Good for Harry," I thought. "He certainly de- 

 served it after his work of last night;" for on the way 

 home his hunter had seen an enormous ram climbing a 

 mountain side and they had followed it to the summit 

 only to lose its trail in the gathering darkness. Harry 

 had stumbled into camp, half dead with fatigue, but 

 with his enthusiasm undiminished. 



When Na-mon-gin and I had readied the highest 

 peak and found a trail which led along the mountain 

 side just below the crest, we kept steadily on, now and 

 then stopping to scan the grassy ravines and valleys 

 which radiated from the ridge like the ribs of a giant 

 fan. At half past eleven, as we rounded a rocky shoul- 

 der, I saw four sheep feeding in the bottom of a gorge 

 far below us. 



Quite unconscious of our presence, they worked out 

 of the ravine across a low spur and into a deep gorge 

 where the grass still showed a tinge of green. As the 

 last one disappeared, we dashed down the slope and 

 came up just above the sheep. With my glasses I could 

 see that the leader carried a fair pair of horns, but that 

 the other three rams were small, as argali go. 



Lying flat, I pushed my rifle over the crest and aimed 

 at the biggest ram. Three or four tiny grass stems were 

 directly in my line of sight, and fearing that they might 

 deflect my bullet, I drew back and shifted my position 

 a few feet to the right. 



One of the sheep must have seen the movement, al- 

 though we were directly above them, and instantly all 

 were off. In four jumps they had disappeared around 



