GREAT EXPOSURE 59 



reversed the performance and came doivn the same way. 

 They had not seen the runaways, but reported a solitary 

 markhor sitting on a rocky ledge on the oiher side of a 

 ravine. Mirza Khan now led us over some very awkward 

 ground, an open spot in the forest, where we stopped and 

 examined the rocks where the solitary male had been seen, 

 and by good luck sighted our friends, the seven, at once ! 



For two hours we watched them from this breezy ridge. 

 The snow lay in large patches, and the wind was cutting, 

 and I suffered severely from sitting so long in a cramped 

 and exposed position ; but the markhor at last grazed 

 away down the slope, crossed the ridge, and disappeared : 

 this was about 5 p.m. I got off the ridge and into my 

 overcoat at once, and had something to eat with a sip of 

 tea, then walked briskly up and down hill to get warm, 

 but it took time before my teeth stopped chattering. 

 Jamala had been sent down for food and bedding in the 

 mornincr, as soon as we had made certain that the markhor 

 would give us a long chase, and I was now determined to 

 follow them till I trot a chance. Mirza Khtin was on his 

 mettle too, and vowed he would track them till he brought 

 me within ransre. The coolies were heard below in the 

 forest just as the markhor had crossed over, so we went 

 down a short distance and whistled them up. We then 

 went along a goat-track till we reached the ridge a good 

 way above the point where the markhor had disappeared, 

 crossed it, and went down the other side for half a mile, 

 until we found a suitable place, and camped for the night 

 under some rocks, late in the evening. It had been raining 

 during the day, and it now began to sleet and snow. It 

 was the more disagreeable, as the rock I was under only 

 half protected me, and I could not keep my bedding dry. 



Dinner was a difficult performance under the circum- 

 stances. I was established on a shelf two feet wide, 



