"Let us dismount and stake out our animals, and then examine the spot at our leisure. If that is the place, we will find means for reaching it, even if we have to build a bridge, or buy a pontoon of India rubber."
My companion accepted the advice, and under the shadow of a cluster of stunted, gnarled trees, we removed the saddles, and then prepared our dinner, which we stood in some need of, having been without food from the time that we started in the morning, long before sunrise.
"I wish that a flock of sheep would stray this way," Mr. Brown said, while scraping some dried grass together for the purpose of making a fire, while I was occupied in undoing the pack which contained our provisions, as well as our tools and cooking utensils; "I feel like having a mutton chop for supper," he continued.
"Behold your wish," I replied, pointing to a flock of about a thousand sheep, led by a patriarch, whose horns proclaimed many hard-fought battles, just winding their way towards the salt lick from behind a small knoll that stood between us and Mount Tarrengower.
Mr. Brown coolly drew his revolver, and apparently calculated the distance.
"What do you intend to do?" I asked, seating myself on the pack, and watching his proceedings.
"Have a mutton chop for supper, if those animals come within pistol shot. Keep quiet, and don't alarm them, and you will see how delicate I will do the trick."
I was too hungry to make many objections, and therefore followed the advice of my friend. On came the flock, the old patriarch at their head, unsuspicious of danger, and thinking probably of the rich treat which he was about to confer upon his numerous harem, by allowing them to partake of a bit of salt grass at the close of the day.
We were so well concealed by the trunks of the trees, that the sheep, generally wild and suspicious of strangers, did not discover us until the old ram was within about two rods of our hiding place; then he suddenly stopped, and snuffed the air as though he smelled an enemy, and the flock, governed by his actions and motions, likewise halted and looked around, to discover the cause of the commotion.