A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



upwards, and about parallel to us. A short, sharp 

 climb to get above them, and we turned off to our left 

 to intercept them. I peeped over a rock just in time 

 to see a small one disappearing round a corner about 

 twenty yards away ; they had got wind of us somehow 

 and were off ; disappointing after our very hard work ! 

 I ran up as fast as I could, and saw the herd 

 crossing a bed of snow some way above, and with 

 the despairing hope that a shot might turn them 

 towards us, put up my sight for three hundred yards 

 and fired. I saw the snow spurt up quite close to 

 them, and, taking careful aim, fired again and brought 

 one down. This was unexpected luck, though firing 

 at this distance is not to be recommended, more 

 especially at a moving object, as it is much better 

 to leave the game quiet, in the hopes of getting a 

 more certain shot on a subsequent occasion. How- 

 ever, this time I did not much mind whether I got 

 one or not, so it was lucky. The head was a good 

 one, measuring forty-two and a half inches. The 

 return journey was even harder work than the 

 upward climb, as the sun was now high, and clamber- 

 ing over the rough moraines most laborious, and I 

 was not sorry to reach camp about noon, and here 

 I determined to stay in the hopes that the three 

 monsters seen the previous evening would come out 

 to feed again in the same place ; but as they never 

 reappeared I fancy that they must have heard our 

 shots in the morning. 



The following day I returned to Kande ; the 



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