256 THE IMAGE OF WAE 



now very nearly, if not quite, two hundred yards from 

 the buck ; and, worse still, he was lying down. Still, 

 my watch warned me I must not wait for him to rise, 

 unless I wished to risk being benighted on the hill. 

 So I put my cap on a rock, and, resting my left hand 

 on it, fired. All the herd jumped up, but only moved 

 off slowly, waiting for their lord, who was evidently 

 very sick. On the sky-line he staggered about till I 

 thought he must fall. But he pulled himself together 

 and disappeared after the others. First, going hastily 

 back for my things, I made for the spot, and soon took 

 up a fairly heavy blood trail, which I followed till the 

 gathering dusk warned me of the risk I was running. 

 At half-past four I knocked off the pursuit, barely 

 getting back to camp by dusk. 



V. had only succeeded in finding one ibex, the other 

 having, as he had feared, fallen into the sea. Of 

 course, the one he had brought in was the poorer 

 of the two ; indeed, his luck during this trip was 

 wretched, but it was more than made up for in Assam 

 a month or two later. 



I passed a somewhat uneasy night, as is my wont 

 when I am responsible for the sufferings of some 

 unfortunate animal. The morning was again cold 

 and wet, but as it was a case of putting to sea if it 

 should turn out in the least degree possible, I was 

 warned to get back by two o'clock at the latest. My 

 companion, who owned to being somewhat " rock- 

 sick," remained in camp. So I started off with the 

 younger shepherd, and made my way to the spot 

 where I had followed the blood trail the night before. 

 The night's rain had completely washed it out, but 

 Star made a lucky cast, and in about three-quarters of 



