A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



above the peaks behind us. True to Salia's 

 prediction the wind changed, and after some little 

 time the old bucks appeared, coming leisurely 

 down from rock to rock and looking suspiciously 

 around them ; there were ten of them, all carrying 

 good heads. They disappeared behind a ridge, 

 and we set off in their direction, crouching low to 



keep out of 

 sight. We 

 eventually 

 reached 

 some stones, 

 and, taking off 

 our caps, cau- 

 tiously peeped 

 oven There 

 they were, 

 feeding un- 

 consciously 

 some two hundred 

 yards away at the foot 

 of the perpendicular 

 rocks. Salia whispered 



to me to come with him, and we wriggled along flat 

 on our faces to a big rock some fifty yards nearer. 

 " The dark one is the biggest, shoot him first/' 

 whispered Salia. It was a critical moment as, after 

 a minute's pause to take breath and steady myself, I 

 raised my rifle and fired at the big one down he 



came sprawling on the ground while the second 



72 



