IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 2G5 



beyond the Long Ridge. What a noise those 

 fellows are making up there ! Still, they are a 

 thousand feet above me, so I shall take the trouble 

 to climb up to the top of the Long Ridge. Twenty 

 minutes do it ; and there I leave dog, stick, and 

 rucksack, and crawl warily to the legfdhiwi-coYered 

 edge. Lying down at full length, I proceed to get 

 out my glass, but it is hardly wanted. There on 

 the snow, a couple of hundred yards from the base 

 of my cliff, are two bucks, without doubt the same 

 which I saw before lunch. But how to get at 

 them ? The cliff I am on is sheer, and the couloir 

 they descended when, as no doubt happened, the 

 troops headed them back, is one I would not dare 

 venture on. To my right the cliffs become lower, 

 but are still impossible, and if they were not they 

 are in full view. Even if I went right round I 

 should be no better off, with some four or five 

 hundred yards of open snow between me and them. 

 Well, I must e'en lie here an hour or two and see 

 what happens. As a matter of fact, I had not 

 lain a quarter of an hour when — crash ! The 

 soldier who rolled that rock over in idle (and 

 dangerous) play did me a good turn, anyway, for 

 both sprung round and galloped towards me. 

 Now I made my first bad mistake. I ought at all 

 risks to have kept the glass on them, instead of 

 which I bounded down the ridge to take post at 

 a saddle fifty yards lower down, where I thought 



