SPORT AND TRAVEL 83 



Suddenly the little lame nanny made her appear- 

 ance, and climbing nimbly up the steep slope of 

 rock stood in full view on the top, at a distance 

 of seventy or eighty yards from me. In another 

 instant I knew that the rams would follow her, and 

 the thought passed across my mind that I possibly 

 might secure both of them, if I could only get a 

 second cartridge into my single-barrelled rifle with- 

 out any loss of time. To make absolutely certain of 

 my shot, I thought I would sit down before one of 

 the big goats appeared. O most unhappy thought ! 

 for as I did so, forgetful of the narrowness of the ledge 

 and the steepness of the rock below it, I could not 

 retain my position, but commenced slithering down 

 the sloping face of the rock. Even as I did so, up 

 sprang the great one-horned goat into full view, and 

 stood for some moments quite motionless, a magnifi- 

 cent spectacle. In vain, lying almost on rny back, but 

 slowly sliding down the rock, I tried to steady myself 

 for a shot, and just as the goat saw me and dashed off, 

 I fired in a most awkward position and missed. The 

 second ram I never saw, and I suppose he must have 

 kept down the bottom of the crevasse on hearing the 

 shot, and emerged out of sight farther down. 



Wild with mortification and chagrin, I recovered 

 my equilibrium as quickly as possible, and climbing 

 hurriedly up the rocks, took up a position from which 

 I hoped to be able to retrieve my fortune by a long 

 shot as the goats climbed the farther side of the 



