170 



WILD SPAIN. 



shadows — ^within easy shot of where, five minutes before, 

 I had been lying in wait. On another morning at dawn 

 the tracks of a big male showed that he, too, must have 

 passed at some hour of the night within five-and-twenty 

 yards of the snow- screen. 



But it was not till a whole week had elapsed that we 

 had the ibex really in our power. Just as day broke a 

 herd of eight — two males and six females — stood not forty 

 yards from our cave-dwelling. The fact was ascertained 

 by one Esteban, a Spanish sportsman whom we had taken 

 with us. Silently he stole back into the cave, and without 



