SPORT AND TRAVEL 41 



of a shot. As it was, they were at first about three hun- 

 dred yards below us, but as they were climbing upwards 

 every step brought them nearer to us. They advanced 

 very slowly, and with great caution, until at last they 

 were within two hundred yards of where I stood. Nearer 

 than this they were not likely to approach, so, putting up 

 the two hundred yards' sight, I prepared for a shot. 

 The two rams appeared about the same size, and their 

 broad curving horns looked very fine. Soon one of 

 them stood in full view on a rock, and offered a capital 

 shot. Standing as I was, he was too far off for me to 

 feel at all sure of hitting him ; but Allah was with me 

 on this day, and as I fired I had the satisfaction of see- 

 ing him fall headlong off the rock, and disappear in a 

 small crevasse. I very nearly got a shot at the second 

 ram, as he jumped from rock to rock, but he was a 

 little too quick for me, and got out of sight before I 

 could manage to slip another cartridge into my single- 

 barrelled rifle. Barefooted as I was, it did not take me 

 long to get down to where my prize lay. The old 

 Turk pronounced it to be a five-year-old ram ; and, 

 such as it was, I was very pleased to have secured it, 

 for, although its horns had not attained to the mag- 

 nificent proportions sometimes seen in old rams of his 

 species, he still carried a very pretty head, his horns 

 being quite symmetrical, and measuring just twenty- 

 four inches over the curve. He was still in his summer 

 coat of red brown, with a short black beard, but with 

 the broad shoulder-stripe, which becomes so con- 



