40 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



The descent of the mountain was easy enough ; and 

 before very long we had got down to the neighbour- 

 hood where we had first seen the goats lying, and 

 the old Turk gave me to understand that if we reached 

 a certain buttress of rocks we should command a view 

 of the spot where we had last seen them. Before reach- 

 ing these solid rocks, however, we had to cross one 

 hundred yards or so of loose stones ; and to accomplish 

 this noiselessly was an absolute impossibility, as they lay 

 all loosely heaped together at a steep angle on the 

 mountain-side in such a way that the displacement of 

 one moved several others and was bound to make some 

 slight noise even if it did not send a small avalanche 

 down to the valley below. Across this treacherous 

 piece of ground my guide and I moved cautiously 

 with bare feet ; at least his feet were bare and mine 

 only covered with socks. It seemed that it took an 

 age to cross it, but at last we reached the solid mass of 

 rocks that had been our goal, and, climbing hastily to 

 the top, eagerly scanned the ground beyond, and almost 

 immediately saw the wild goats of which we were in 

 search. Fortune so far had befriended us, as, although 

 the slight noise we had made in crossing the loose 

 stones had disturbed them, they had not been able to 

 quite locate the sound, and were approaching us in- 

 stead of retreating. Had we not disturbed them, I do 

 not think we should ever have seen them at all amongst 

 the bushes where they had been lying, until they had 

 made us out, and crept away without offering a chance 



