38 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



The face of the mountain upon which we were now 

 hunting was cut into a succession of rocky ravines, 

 divided one from the other by ridges more or less 

 clothed with pine-trees and scrubby undergrowth ; and 

 it was evident, from the cautious manner in which my 

 old guide examined every open piece of ground, that 

 he fully expected to see some of the animals of which 

 we were in search in one or other of these numerous 

 ravines. Nor was he mistaken ; for at last, after peer- 

 ing over a rock into the depths of a deep gorge below 

 us for several minutes, he turned and beckoned me to 

 come to his side, at the same time giving utterance to 

 the one word " gay-eek," wild goat. Unless it had 

 happened to move just as my eye fell upon it, I should 

 certainly have overlooked it, had I been alone and 

 without my field-glasses. By the aid of these, how- 

 ever, I could see quite plainly, not only that it was a 

 wild goat, but a ram with fair-sized horns, lying appar- 

 ently fast asleep amongst a lot of stones in the shade 

 of a large fir-tree. I soon made out a second goat, also 

 a ram, lying near the first, and presently my strong 

 field-glass revealed a third, apparently a female, lying 

 on a ledge of rock at some distance from the other two. 

 We were, as I have said before, a long way above them, 

 but as the wind was in our favour, I think we might 

 have descended the side of the mountain by the next 

 parallel ravine, and then have crept to within easy 

 range of where the rams were lying, if they would but 

 have prolonged their siesta for another hour or two. 



