254 THE IMAGE OF WAR 



last one disappear behind a spur below me, and then 

 also made off to the left, with the intention of cutting 

 them off. My advance had to be made with extreme 

 caution, as I might meet them face to face any 

 minute. But when I reached a point whence I could 

 command a fair extent of open ground, on which I 

 had made sure of seeing them, there was nothing 

 on it but sheep. The ibex had passed over the next 

 ridge. I followed, crossing a little rocky flat, and 

 just before reaching a gully beyond it, caught sight 

 of the herd trotting off, and dropped behind a big 

 rock. 



As I guessed, they had neither seen nor winded me. 

 Their pace was too leisurely for that. Probably some 

 of the sheep, of which there were a number to leeward, 

 had started on winding me, and thus given the alarm. 

 It was, however, as I have said, not a very lively one ; 

 and just short of the sky-line they all stopped, and 

 commenced to feed upwards. 



I now had time to notice that they had picked up a 

 number more beasts on their way, and that the entire 

 herd consisted of eleven ibex. Of these, three were 

 bucks : one the old grey fellow, my destined victim ; 

 another brown, the usual colour of the young Grecian 

 ibex ; and the third a uniform dun. The rest were 

 does and small beasts. Having fed up some way they 

 then inclined to my left, thus making almost a semi- 

 circle round my rock, and finally, to my disgust, the 

 second-best buck lay down. I knew what that meant. 

 Sure enough, after meditatively scratching his back 

 with his horns, the big buck did the same, and in two 

 minutes all were lying down peacefully chewing the 

 cud. I lighted a pipe. 



There is nothing more fascinating than watching 



