GREAT RAM OF THE SHANSI MOUNTAINS 199 



melt into the mountain side, vanishing like magic among 

 the grass and stones. I wondered mildly why they had 

 concealed themselves so suddenly, but a moment later 

 there sounded a subdued whir, like the motor of an aero- 

 plane far up in the sky. Three shadows drifted over, 

 and I saw three huge black eagles swinging in ever 

 lowering circles about our heads. I knew then that the 

 partridges had sought the protection of our presence 

 from their mortal enemies, the eagles. 



When I looked at the sheep again he was lying down 

 squarely in the trail, lazily raising his head now and then 

 to gaze about. The hunter inspected the ram through 

 my glasses and prepared^ to go. We rolled slowly over 

 the ridge and then hurried around to the projecting 

 spur at the end of which the ram was lying. 



The going was very bad indeed. Pieces of crumbled 

 granite were continually slipping under foot, and at 

 times we had to cling like flies to a wall of rock with a 

 sheer drop of hundreds of feet below us. Twice the 

 Mongol cautiously looked over the ridge, but each time 

 shook his head and worked his way a little farther. At 

 last he motioned me to slide up beside him. Pushing 

 my rifle over the rock before me, I raised myself a few 

 inches and saw the massive head and neck of the ram 

 two hundred yards away. His body was behind a rocky 

 shoulder, but he was looking squarely at us and in a 

 second would be off. 



I aimed carefully just under his chin, and at the roar 

 of the high-power shell, the ram leaped backward. 

 "You hit him," said the Mongol, but I felt he must be 



