348 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



began to peer above the mountain, and this revealed to us in 

 a weird light the vast panorama of hill and plain, which 

 stretched out before us in all its grandeur. Magnificent as 

 the scene looked, and much as we should have liked to have 

 gazed long and earnestly upon it, time forbade us such plea- 

 sure, so we were compelled to commence clambering once 

 more, and to strain our eyes in quest of " signs." 



After beating about for an hour we came suddenly upon 

 them, and they were so fresh that we knew the sheep must be 

 somewhere in our immediate vicinity. Moving as noiselessly 

 as we could, taking advantage of every shelter furnished by 

 shrub or rock, and peering about us with the greatest cautious- 

 ness, as if we feared that the movements of the head would 

 startle the quarry, we advanced very slowly, so slowly in fact 

 that it was painful to me, as my heart seemed heavy with sup- 

 pressed excitement, and my breathing was short and laboured. 

 After crawling to the windward in this manner for 

 half an hour, I approached several huge boulders that 

 towered upward from the ground to a height of thirty or forty 

 feet, and on rounding one of these I came suddenly upon live 

 sheep, which had evidently only commenced their matu- 

 tinal meal, as one of them was just arising from its couch 

 when I arrived on the scene. Their sudden and unexpected 

 appearance was as great a shock to me as my presence was to 

 them, and for a second or two we both stood still and mute, 

 when they with a loud snort dashed for the summit at a rate 

 of speed I would not have credited them with. Their move- 

 ment aroused me also, and taking a hurried aim, I fired at 

 them when passing in a bunch through a rocky gateway in 

 the dell ; but I did not have the satisfaction of seeing any 

 fall. Deeply chagrined at my bad shooting, I hurried after 

 them as rapidly as I could, and was soon rejoined by my com- 

 panion, who felt as keenly about my want of success as I did 

 myself, as he feared we should not be able to get another 

 shot during the morning, and perhaps not during the day, 

 owing to the noise created by the tiring, which would send 

 them all scampering towards the highest pinnacles, where it 

 would be difficult to pursue them. Alter pursuing them for 



