We seated ourselves on the brink of this great cliff and the glasses were at once in use.  Soon Hunter saw rams, but they were so far below that even with my powerful binoculars it was impossible to tell more than that they carried larger heads than other sheep near them.

It was impossible to descend the cliff at the point where we then were, so we moved around, looking for a place where we might work down, and finally found one where it was possible to descend some fifty yards to a sort of shute.  From where we were we could not see whether we should be able to make a still further descent, and if we did go down that far it would be an extremely difficult climb to get back, but we thought it probable that there would be slide rock at the other end of this shute, in which case the rest would be fairly easy.

Moving with the greatest caution, we finally reached the shute, and after a bit of bad climbing found the slide rock at the lower end as we had expected; but it took us a good two hours to get low enough to tell with the glasses how big were the horns the sheep carried.

There were eight rams in all.  A bunch of three small ones about half a mile away, and just beyond them four with better heads, but still not good enough to shoot, and apart from these, a short distance up the mountain side, was a solitary ram which carried a really good head.  The bunch of three was unfortunately between us and the big sheep, and it required careful stalking to get within distance of the one we sought.  We knew very well that if we suddenly alarmed the three, and they rushed off, they, in turn, would alarm the four and also the big ram.  When we were still at some distance we showed ourselves to the three, and they took the hint and wandered slowly up the mountain side.  The others, although they had not seen us, became suspicious, so we remained crouched behind some rocks until they once more began to feed.  The big ram now came down from his solitary position and passed from view behind a mass of boulders near the remaining sheep.

The head of the ram which I had shot the day before was much smaller than I had supposed at the time.  In order to avoid this in future I had asked Hunter to advise me in selecting only really good heads.  My man, who now had the glasses, declared that the big sheep had not joined the bunch of four, and I must confess that I was also deceived.

Although the four had become suspicious from seeing the three go slowly up the cliff, still they had not made us out, and the wind remained favorable.  Lying close only long enough for them to get over their uneasiness, we cautiously stalked up to within some two hundred yards.  Again we used the glasses most carefully, but could not see the big ram.  Suddenly the sheep became alarmed and started up the mountain.  I expected each second to see the large ram come out from behind the boulders, and therefore withheld from shooting.  But when he did not appear