MOUNTAIN-SHEEP HUNTING 



and general long-distance bombardment at two now thoroughly 

 alarmed fugitive sheep. My friend, not feeling well, returned 

 to camp after this stalk. In an intermittent chilly drizzle, 

 Mac and I continued travelling along the side of the moun- 

 tain, scanning all the likely slopes with the field-glasses in 

 search of sheep. At three o'clock in the afternoon we were 

 crouching among the rocks at the summit of a rugged pass, 

 with a magnificent panorama of ragged peaks and glittering 

 glaciers surrounding us. The enjoyment of the scenery^ was 

 somew^hat marred by the icy blast from the glacier - covered 

 ranges of mountains, which cut through our flannel shirts 

 with the sensation of thousands of needle-pricks, and hurled 

 small gravel past by the handfuls with the velocity of shrap- 

 nel. I had figured out the least dangerous method of descent 

 into the comparative warmth of the basin below us when 

 Mac, who had noticed my expression, announced with a grin 

 that he could see six large rams along the wind-swept crest 

 of the mountain. This necessitated a painful three-quarter- 

 of-a-mile crawl in the teeth of the gale, and a dangerous descent 

 of some precipitous lava cliffs. It terminated in Mac's ex- 

 citedly motioning me to crawl past him on the narrow ledge 

 which w^e were following. Across an almost impossible three- 

 hundred-yard chasm six fine rams were standing in various 

 picturesque attitudes of attention and alarm, caused by the 

 noisy showers of loose shale heralding our approach. 



The moment I fired, all six rams bounded down the ridge; 

 but by the time I had emptied the magazine of all five cart- 

 ridges, two of the group, evidently badly wounded, had separat- 

 ed from the others, and were descending in erratic courses into 

 the basin below us. Mac let loose a series of Taltan yells of 

 joy, and we followed in the wake of the cripples, preceded by 

 showers of bounding rocks dislodged by our rapid descent. 

 One wounded ram seemed to be rapidly gaining strength, but 

 we had almost overtaken the larger of the two, which was 

 23 339 



