loo IBEX SHOOTING 



two markhor and three ibex, not a large bag ; but I had 

 had a glorious time. The mountain air and vigorous 

 exercise formed a splendid tonic, worth a donkey-load of 

 doctor's stuff, and I felt as strong and healthy as I was 

 when ten years younger. 



It was a difficult business settling up with Mirza Khan. 

 He had been with me a month, and I paid him twenty-five 

 rupees, but he was not satisfied. He had certainly worked 

 hard, and had served me right well. He asked for pay- 

 ment for the goats' milk that had been supplied to me. 

 I paid him three rupees, about double its vakie, and he 

 then demanded sugar for a sick child in some distant 

 village (a palpable invention), and I gave him over a pound. 

 At last, being at his wits' end, he demanded from Sharafa 

 that he should be paid for the logs of wood that we had 

 burned at our fires on the mountain side. I drew the line 

 here, and the stream of my rupees dried up, but as a 

 parting gift I gave him the largest skinning knife I had, 

 remembering that several times I had seen him admiring 

 it. He was gratified, but still seemed to regret his 

 inability to frame pleas for further extortion. On the 

 whole, I was pleased with Mirza Khan. He was every 

 inch a mountaineer, and a true shikari. Without him my 

 sport in this valley would have been very tame indeed, 

 and my bag would have been about as large as that of my 

 predecessor, who worked over the same ground for three 

 weeks or more, and had to leave at last without a single 

 head of game. 



