This march was a long and tiring one, and no one
felt inclined to go far from the road in search of sport,
but the following morning I determined to devote
entirely to an attempt to get a good ram. As soon as
the baggage animals were clear of the camping-ground,
I struck into the hills to the north, accompanied by my
orderly. Entering a .valley which ran parallel to the
direction of our march, we found a country teeming
with antelope and sand-grouse, and it was not long
before a herd of ammon was observed high up in the
hills to the north. These, with the aid of the glasses,
were seen to consist of about forty females, but without
a single male amongst them.
A careful scrutiny of the neighbouring ravines,
however, disclosed two solitary rams, slowly moving
towards the ewes and cropping at the tufts of grass on
their way. Even with the help of the glasses, it was
quite impossible to see whether they carried horns of
sufficient size to make it worth while going out of our
way. We got into a friendly ravine, and under cover
of a bank approached to within half a mile. Both rams
were now seen to possess fine horns. I longed to go
straight up the valley ; but this was out of the question,
as it necessitated crossing an open space in full view,
whilst the wind would also have been directly in my
rear. The only possible chance lay in entering a
neighbouring valley, climbing to the very top of the
range, and then to come upon them from above.
The climb proved to be both a tedious and trying
scramble over rocks, and occupied so much time that
our chances of finding the ammon in the same place
dwindled rapidly. On reaching the crest, nothing was
to be seen ; but as several parts of the valley remained
hidden, I left my rifle on the ground and wormed my
way to a projecting rock, from where a good view of
the whole nullah could be obtained. Then I realised
the mistake I had made in not bringing the rifle with
me, for within 80 yards, and facing downhill, was
the whole herd of females. The rams had not yet
joined them, and while puzzling as to where they
were I saw, not 150 yards away, a great head
slowly appear. There was now only one thing to be
done, and that was to regain my rifle as quickly as
possible. This took a good ten minutes to accomplish.
Peering once more over the rock, I was disgusted to
find that during this time the rams and the majority of
the females had vanished. Three or four of the latter,
however, were still grazing on the edge of a steep slope.
The only possible course was to wait patiently, and
this proved anything but a pleasant job in the bitter
wind; but everything comes to him who waits, and
the loiterers, after one last look round, vanished over
the edge. After them I hastened, half running and
half creeping. Still no signs ; faster and faster I went,
until distant about four yards and on the far side
of a great boulder, motionless as the rock itself, I
saw a massive pair of horns. From their position
it was evident that the animal was facing me, and
probably listening intently. I was standing upright at
the time, and no boulders were at hand whereby I
might gain another foot in height and have a snapshot
at his chest. At moments such as this, one thinks of
everything. I could not rush forward and fire with
success, that was evident; the wind was in the right
direction, so he had not winded me; neither had he
seen me, for I had only caught a glimpse of the upper
half of his horns, and these were far higher above his
eyes than my cap was above mine. There remained
one possible chance; so slowly sinking on my knees,
and hardly breathing, I crept cautiously towards the