SPORT AND TRAVEL 31 



if they had been alarmed. They were about four 

 hundred yards from us, and I had a good look at 

 them with the glasses, but there was no ram with 

 them. It was quite dark when we reached camp, and 

 I was not only very tired, but excessively thirsty, as 

 the heat had been intense on the bare limestone 

 rocks, and Mahmoud and I had had but a very small 

 allowance of water between us. However, after I had 

 had a bathe in the cool spring water, and drunk a 

 kettle of tea, I felt all right again. 



On the following day I was up at 4 A. M., and left 

 camp about an hour before dawn. A heavy thunder- 

 storm was brewing, which I hoped might pass out to 

 sea ; but the black clouds came nearer and nearer, 

 until at last the storm burst upon us, with heavy 

 thunder and lightning, and deluges of rain. The 

 young Turk, Mahmoud, who had accompanied me on 

 the previous day, was again with me, and we sat under 

 a bush for two hours, hoping the rain would cease; but 

 as it showed no signs of doing so, we returned to 

 camp to dry our things. 



We had scarcely got back to camp when the rain 

 ceased, so after a short delay we again climbed the 

 mountain, and, on reaching the top, found it was just 

 like a knife-blade, the further side being almost as 

 precipitous as that facing the sea. For several hours 

 we climbed about, searching all the ravines with the 

 glasses for wild goats, but saw nothing. At length we 

 returned to the near side of the mountain, and, late in 



