A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



to set off, when we saw a breathless coolie coming 

 up from the camp, who said that Saibra had sent to 

 say that he had seen four large nyan rams. For a 

 moment I was undecided ; we knew what to expect 

 in one direction, and in the other it might be only 

 a few burhel or nyan ewes, so my mind was soon 

 made up, and, mounting our ponies, Salia and I set 

 off at a gallop along the low, many-coloured hills of 

 shingle towards Saibra, leaving Ullia still waving 

 frantically from a hill-top. After going about a 

 mile, we caught up the Ladakhi who had been sent 

 back to camp by Saibra, and who, having delivered 

 his message, was about to rejoin him. This Ladakhi, 

 too, had seen the nyan, and said that they were all 

 very big rams. 



At last my chance had come ! After many weary 

 stalks and disappointments, all of them at an 

 altitude of well over 15,000 feet, and just as I 

 began to think that no nyan existed that carried a 

 head of much over thirty inches, I was at length to 

 be rewarded. As we galloped along, I pictured to 

 myself how the first two barrels might drop two big 

 rams, right and left, while, hastily reloading, I 

 should get a chance at the remaining two (and of 

 course hit them) as they vanished over the opposite 

 slope. It struck me, however, that in the meantime 

 they might have moved off before we could get 

 there, as they are quick and restless feeders, and 

 that when we came up to Saibra he would tell us 

 that they were gone, and " Oh, Sahib, why were 



