12G SHORT STALKS 



black on the i)l;iin. like notliiijo' so iimcli as liuoe leeclies 



J- <r!; o 



sucking at the juices of the mountain. 



But we were not thinkino- much of these thino-s that 

 night. What sportsman does not remember the first eager 

 hope with which he examines the new hunt in o- oround ? 

 Are the wild animals we have come so far to seek still to 

 be found in those clifis ? I knew that they were there ten 

 years ago, but men of knowledge had assured me that the 

 railway must have driven them away, and that I must go 

 farther afield. We had vet to learn that it is not the 

 habit of this old-world sheep to run aw^ay from civilisation. 

 He has other means of protection. 



Behind the little inn at the north end of the gap was a 

 sandy ridge, which ofiered a good spying-point. From this 

 our telescopes presently scanned the clifis of the Jel)el 

 IMetlili, the highest point in these parts, wliic]i rose to the 

 north from a little plain to the height, I should judge, of 

 five thousand feet. There was no doubt aljout the broken 

 character of its clifis. Their appearance, at any rate, justi- 

 fied our hopes. 



Two very dirty and ragged Arabs, Ali and Abdullah, 

 had been fetched from the mountain itself with a view to 

 being retained as guides, and, while we supped, they inter- 

 viewed us, squatting on their hams on the tiled fioor. 

 These ragamuttins gave an edge to our appetites by assert- 

 ing the undoul)ted })resence of fcsJtffd^ as they call the 

 old male of the (irom, in the clifis ^NQ had been examinino- 

 and the more eairer we showed ourselves, the higher rose 

 their terms. We finally settled with them for three francs 

 a day, at wliicli price they proved distinctly dear. 



Gerald started at a very early hour with Andreas and 



