THE GREAT THIBETAN SHEEP, OR NYAN. 



177 



On reaching the point I was making for, I found that the Nyan had lain down, and it 

 was some time before a careful survey of the ground enabled me to lay my plans for 

 approaching them. The ravine in which I was concealed was one of many with nearly 

 parallel courses which joined the main watercourse of the valley (now nearly dry) a few 

 hundred yards lower down, and I saw that by going round to the next ravine and a°-ain 

 ascending under cover of its banks, I should probably be able to get within easy shot. This 

 scheme I rapidly carried out, and on again peering over the bank of the nullah, up which I 

 had to proceed in a crouching position, I found that I was within a long shot of the rams. 



The wind was favorable, I certainly had not shown myself, nor had I made sufficient 

 noise in my approach to render it possible for the wary animals to have heard me ; but on 

 carefully peering over the bank, there were the two big rams apparently gazing straight at 

 me, the two smaller ones peacefully grazing a short distance beyond them. 



The two old rams were about a hundred and sixty yards off, a rather long range for the 

 12-bore rifle which I carried, and I waited a long time in the hope that they would move nearer 

 to me. They remained immovable however, while the two smaller ones gradually increased their 

 distance. At last I feared that the big rams might at any moment turn round and follow 

 their smaller companions, in which case I should probably only get a stern shot as they 

 walked away. There was little chance of my obtaining a more favorable shot than the old 

 patriarch now afforded, and I accordingly resolved to risk it. I had had plenty of time to 

 allow my hand to become perfectly steady, and slowly and carefully raising my rifle over 

 the bank on which I rested, I aligned the sights on the ram's shoulder as he stood half facing 

 me. Gradually I pressed the trigger, and never did I feel more confident of a shot. My 

 confidence was justified by the sound which reached my ear, the crack of the bullet striking 

 on bone and flesh — not the dull ' thud ' so often talked of in the days of small charges and 

 high trajectories, but the sharp stroke of a bullet travelling with the high velocity produced 

 by the explosion of six drams of powder. 



" What animal can stand the shock of such a projectile properly placed ? The glorious 

 horns are mine !" Such were my thoughts, and although, on the smoke clearing away, I saw 

 all four rams moving off, it was at a slow pace instead of the race-horse speed at which they 

 almost invariably start when alarmed. Every moment I expected to see the wounded 

 one stagger and fall, but they all crossed a low ridge at a fast walk, and disappeared from view. 

 Hurrying forward, I saw all four going away together, and began to think that my ears must 

 have deceived me, and that I had missed after all. But I knew that it was quite impossible for 

 an animal to be struck by a bullet from that rifle without bleeding pretty profusely, and on 

 examining the tracks, I soon found plenty of blood. Cheered by this discovery, I rapidly 

 followed up the trail, expecting, as each ridge was crossed, to find the wounded beast lying 

 down. After going about two miles however, I saw the large ram going up the steep face of 

 a rocky hill towards which he had been making, and on having recourse tts the telescope, I 

 could see a large patch of blood on his side, my bullet having struck too high and too far 

 back, probably owing to the strong wind which was blowing, but which I could not feel in 

 my sheltered position in the nullah, and had not therefore made allowance for. 



Y 



