CHAPTER V 



MAEKHOR SHOOTING — {continued) 



Begin another hunt— Sharafa kills a snake — Eagles' chase after a snow-cock 

 — Mdrklior tactics — AVatching game — Hard work and no reward — ilirza 

 Khan in fault — Lose a splendid chance — Legend of the Major and the 

 Saint of Ghor — Change our ground — Sight game — Our cautious (and 

 ridiculous) tactics — Bag the markhor at last — A candid confession — An 

 undisputed "halal" — Mirza Khan's capacity for meat — Another shoot- 

 ing-box of Mirza Khan's — Spend a night in a watercourse — A bit of 

 Kashmir in a rough setting — Inhabited by a microscopic but hugely 

 vicious fly — Wily markhor — Bad going — Mirza Khan makes a slip — 

 Long shots — Very dangerous ground— Eain and snow in a tight camp- 

 ing place — My rocky home— Cross the same dangerous ground again — 

 Mirza Khan makes another slip — A bad two seconds on the brink of 

 prospective eternity — Bad weather conquers — Markhor shooting ends. 



That uight it snowed and rained heavily, so I took a day 

 off, and enjoyed the rest. A large markhor was seen from 

 the camp in the evening, and next morning we went after 

 it, making a start at five o'clock. After following the 

 stream along a narrow valley on the right, we came on 

 tracks of markhor which had just come down the hillside 

 we intended to ascend, and had gone up stream ; we 

 sighted them soon after on the ridge. They must have 

 seen us, for they were alarmed : had we been fifteen 

 minutes earlier, we should have met them face to face. 

 Turning up the hillside, we came across numbers of 

 markhor tracks, quite fresh — no doubt made by the flock 

 we had just seen. Going on, we disturbed three females 



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