52 RIFLE AND SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



ascent on foot. Rahman, who had never been allowed to 

 come here before, was full of expectation, and declared 

 that bears were as plentiful as sheep. And sure enough, 

 when we were about half-way up, we could just make 

 out a smallish black object scuttling through the 

 rocky ground about a couple of hundred yards above us. 

 It was still barely light enough to see one's foresight, 

 and, the bear being a small one, I would not fire, and 

 risk losing mv chance at a barasinek. At last we 

 reached the top, just as the first ray of sun burst over 

 the mountains behind us. The view was splendid. At 

 our feet lay stretched the lovely Kashmir valley bounded 

 on the left by the snow-clad Pir Punjab A slender 

 twisting silver wire marked the river Jhelum, and in the 

 far distance, the Takkt-i-Sulinian mountain, which towers 

 above the city of Srinagar, lcoked like a small mole-hill 

 on the plain. But Rahman and Khaira had not come Tip 

 here to admire the view, and they ipiickly set to work, 

 scanning through a glass each likely corrie and glen. From 

 the saddle-back we were on, one could see for miles 

 along both sides of the low hills, but although we waited 

 nearly an hour, not even a black bear came in sight. 



"The sun was now well up, and we continued our 

 way along the hill-top. There were several little wooded 

 nullahs which at intervals deeply furrowed the sides of 

 the mountain, and ran down into the thick black 



