58 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



out of sight of our game ; and having collected 

 as many bits of dead rhododendron scrub as we 

 could find, we made ourselves a tiny fire. But 

 though what we found had evidently given up 

 all idea of living at such a height many years 

 ago, we found so little, and it burnt so badly, 

 that the fire only served to warm the stones 

 we sat on, and the little flames seemed fright- 

 ened of the cold and gloom all round. 



A good wrestling bout and other athletic 

 amusements, such as putting the stone, 

 jumping and leapfrog, warmed us more ; but 

 Simon, being a little man, got the worst of it, 

 and not seeing the fun of always coming first 

 in contact with the stony places, refused to 

 play any more. So once more we sat and 

 waited. 



After a while Simon said that in another 

 hour we might expect the beasts to come 

 down ; so putting out our fire, we climbed 

 back to our ambuscade. Peering through 



