“No,” said Hugh, “it’s a long way.”
They spent some hours looking at the sheep, all of which after a while stopped feeding, and the ewes and lambs lay down on the grass, while most of the rams left the valley and climbed some distance up the rocks and lay down.
“Well,” said Hugh, “I don’t know but we’ve seen enough of Red Eagle Valley and its bunch of sheep, especially as we’re not going to get any of them. What do you say to turning round and going back to camp?”
The boys were ready, and they started back, following along the rim of rocks on which they were until they came to the high cliffs, down which they had to climb to get to their horses.
They were descending these, sometimes jumping from ledge to ledge, and in bad places lowering themselves by their hands, when Hugh, who was a little below the others, gave a low hiss, which caused the boys to stand motionless. After a moment he said in a low voice, “Come on down to where I am, and be quick about it.”
Cautiously and silently the boys descended to the broad ledge on which Hugh stood.
He pointed across the valley to a mountainside not more than three hundred yards away and said, “Do you see that hill there with the ridge running down toward camp? Well, a minute ago three young rams passed behind that, and behind the rams came a lion stalking them.”
“Well, what became of them, Hugh?” asked Jack. “Are they still behind there?”
“Yes,” said Hugh, “I haven’t seen them come out and I don’t know as we will, but if the lion jumps on one of them, the other two ought to show up soon.”
Almost as he spoke they saw the three young rams climbing toward the upper ledges of the mountain, evidently undisturbed as yet, and a moment or two later the panther appeared on the trail that the rams had followed, eagerly looking after them.