SPORT AND TRAVEL 81 



in circumference at the base, is a trophy that any 

 sportsman might be proud to secure, the more espe- 

 cially as the bearer of such a head is, according to my 

 experience, a most shy and wary animal, requiring a 

 good deal of patience, perseverance, and hard work to 

 bring to bag by fair hunting. 



At last the two old goats, still closely followed by 

 the nanny, slowly ascended the ridge of rocks on the 

 further side of the valley, and disappeared one after 

 another from view. The great one-horned ram led, 

 closely followed by his somewhat smaller companion, 

 the nanny bringing up the rear. Each in turn paused 

 for a moment on the sky-line, and though some six 

 or seven hundred yards distant, the great curved 

 horns of the two old rams were still plainly visible 

 to the naked eye, as each in turn stood for the mo- 

 ment turning his head from side to side. Now for 

 it ! and immediately the little nanny had disappeared, 

 the active mountaineer at my side rose to his feet and 

 scrambled down the rocks below us, closely followed 

 by myself, for I knew, from the very slow pace at which 

 the goats were travelling, that if we lost no time in 

 crossing the valley before us I might get a shot at 

 them before they reached the bottom of the next ravine. 

 How long it took us to reach the cluster of rocks over 

 which we had last seen the goats disappear, I do not 

 know, but I think we descended to the bottom of the 

 valley and reascended the farther side in very fair time. 

 As the goats were going along the mountain against 



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