86 IBEX SHOOTING 



I took careful aim as he stood showing his left tlank, and 

 made a capital shot, which to some extent atoned for my 

 blundering yesterday. Mirza Khan shouted for joy when 

 he saw the animal roll down. The ibex stood looking 

 down the valley. When the bullet hit him, he rushed 

 up hill with tremendous bounds for about forty yards, 

 then fell and rolled down again. The Ijullet struck him 

 in the centre of the chest, so he must have turned in my 

 direction just as I pressed the trigger. The buck was of 

 enormous size, but young, for his horns were only 32 f 

 inches. He was soon skinned, and we set out for camp 

 as fast as we could go, for it was rapidly getting dark. 



The next was an off-day. Sharafa had been suffering 

 from severe headache, etc., for the last two days, something 

 like myself. Manawar Khan, the sipahi (my commissariat 

 ofticer), brought a message from Wazir Biighdor Shah, to 

 the effect that I should return to the village, as there was 

 a disturbance across the border among the Yaghistanis 

 (rebels), and they might come across and loot my camp. 

 This inconsequent reasoning did not impress me much. 

 The khidmatgar was still very ill, but was able to move 

 about, and could eat a little. This man's illness I 

 suspected to be another plot. I had no doubt that all my 

 party above and below were getting very tired of the rough 

 life, and they had conspired to frighten me down to the 

 village with these stories. I found that my servant liad eaten 

 a whole leg of the last markhor which had been given him 

 for my use — the glutton ! I never tasted a bit. Every- 

 one said he was an enormous eater, though he had but a 

 small body. He said he had pains all round his body, he 

 was dying, and he was always crying ; but his harrowing 

 tales had no effect on my obdurate heart, for I was de- 

 termined to have my ibex hunt. I began to suspect even 

 Sharafa ; his pains and aches, too, seemed to be assumed. 



