336 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



in the heat of the clay, as the animals concealed themselves 

 after the morning- repast until evening- again. After reaching 

 our primitive quarters we cut off a portion of the kid and 

 roasted it, but it did not prove as palatable as one would infer, 

 for, though tender, it was dry and insipid. I did not try the 

 flesh of the adults, being- willing to accept the judgment of 

 the guide, who stated that it was tougher than Leavenworth 

 boarding-house steak. Throwing ourselves on the bunch of 

 boughs and leaves which answered for a couch, we dozed unlil 

 five p.m., when we again sallied forth. Taking a direction 

 opposite to that which we had followed in the morning, a walk 

 of half a mile brought us to a perfect little paradise of a valley, 

 which was covered with green, luxuriant herbage, and watered 

 by a pretty stream that took its rise in a granitoid formation, 

 and was therefore never dry. Being surrounded by stupendous 

 crags of igneous formation, the guide felt assured that we 

 should meet some goats, so we prepared for the event by filling 

 up the magazine of our Winchester rifles and half-cocking 

 them. After a careful scanning of the boulders, we espied a 

 group of half a dozen animals in a niche far above us. Making 

 a detour to the right, where a chasm yawned, we got to 

 within a quarter of a mile of them, but finding ourselves to 

 the windward and in a spot where we could get only one shot 

 ere they might disappear, the guide took up one of the dogs 

 and showed him where the goats were browsing. Wagging his 

 t:.il to indicate that he understood his mission, he started off 

 at his best speed, followed by his companion, while we hastened 

 back to an isolated mass of rock that skirted the vale on the 

 north-east. The dogs having a wide detour to make in order 

 to get above the goats, we were concealed before their sharp bark 

 announced that they had found the quarry. As soon as the 

 animals were started they came bounding down into the 

 valley, in contradistinction to their usual manner, closely 

 followed by the active pursuers, which kept up an incessant 

 yelping. I was so interested in watching the daring leaps 

 and nimble clambering of the flock that I forgot all about my 

 purpose of tumbling one over, and it was only when the guide 

 slated that we would have " to run for a shot " that I was 



