As the sun was about to set, Talihaal said goodbye to the other young men and headed for his Winter Camp with his rifle on his back.
He was a little dejected. After hearing what Jade Mountain River had said yesterday, he had started looking for signs of wild animals as soon as he returned to the vicinity of his Winter Camp, but he had found nothing.
Talihaal actually knew there was usually a herd of wild mountain goats nearby, on a mountain not far from his Winter Camp. That mountain was so steep that even wolves and foxes had trouble climbing it.
The wild mountain goats grazed on the slopes or at the summit, coming down only at a fixed time each day to drink before returning up the trails they had worn.
When Talihaal was little, he had tried climbing those trails, but he had slid back down halfway up. They were so steep that they seemed impossible for a person to climb.
They were almost vertical. He had no idea how those goats got up there.
Wild mountain goats usually moved around the mountains in herds. There were no woods on that mountain, only relatively sparse shrubs and the weeds growing beneath them. The goats fed on those weeds and the shrubs' tender leaves.
Talihaal had originally thought shooting a wild mountain goat would be a sure thing, but after returning yesterday, he had waited until dark without seeing one.
He had risen very early this morning and waited by the stream at the foot of the mountain for nearly two hours, again without seeing any.
Had the wild mountain goats left this area?
Seeing the other herders either shoot roe deer or find jade made Talihaal anxious.
Half the grass on his slopes had already been