150 A DAY WITH A RAM 



far away, I heard two shots. George, at any rate, 

 had had some luck. 



The corrie, down the opposite side of which we 

 had so stealthily crept an hour or so earlier, lay 

 fronting us. The eastern side was overgrown with 

 rhododendron bushes, the western presented a chaos 

 of rocks, slides, small patches of grass, and an 

 ineffectual covering of bushes and stunted firs. In 

 desperation I pulled out my glass for one last spy 

 and found it focussed on five sheep. There was no 

 ram amongst them, but the rest of the herd could 

 not be far off. 1 pointed them out to my com- 

 panion and held up five fingers. He took the glass 

 and held up nine. It was ten minutes before I 

 made out the rest, and then discovered twelve in all, 

 including the ram. They moved slowly and with 

 agility across the face of the cliffs, reached the slope 

 of the face and turned helter-skelter back, for no 

 apparent reason at all. In a few minutes they 

 settled to feed up a narrow crevice in the rocks and 

 w r e, crawling out of sight, pounded up the slope 

 down which we had so lightly dropped in the 

 morning. They were in full view when we reached 

 the summit, feeding away among the rhododendrons 

 300 yards below us. It seemed certain they would 

 cross into the corrie from which the three men had 

 dislodged them in the morning, so we continued our 

 way, and presently lay safely sheltered among the 

 rocks. Every second I expected the leading ewe's 

 head to appear, but half an hour passed in silence 

 and the suspense became too great. We crawled 

 down the hill to a spot which commanded a view of 

 the basin and looked over. There we saw them, 

 well out of shot, their old course abandoned? 



