The Father of all Sheep 2 1 9 



work this at any time, but at 15,000 feet words 

 fail ! In this manoeuvre the shikari's shorter 

 stature gave him some advantage, not to speak of 

 his lungs, which had never known what it was to 

 breathe air below 10,000 feet. Coming suddenly 

 to a dip in the ground, we put up a herd of 

 gazelle, which went bounding away till their fluffy 

 sterns were lost in the mirage. We reached at 

 last the reverse slope of the hill on which the rams 

 were lying. The wind was all right, but from the 

 top, owing to the curve in the ground, the ammon 

 were not in sight, and we found that an approach 

 from that direction, though it looked feasible 

 enough from our starting-point, would have 

 brought us into full view while still out of shot. 

 So harking back we tried another line. 



A shallow depression in the ground, down which 

 water might have trickled on the rare occasions of 

 heavy rain, seemed to trend in the right direction 

 and offer concealment. As we got nearer the herd, 

 the difficulty of keeping covered became greater, 

 and we were soon compelled to progress on all- 

 fours. Our depression served us well, however, and 

 when I got to where I judged was the right point, 

 I slowly raised my head. The herd had gone ! 

 Eaising myself still farther, I saw them all on 

 their feet a hundred yards away standing looking 

 straight at me. What had they seen ? Probably 



