56 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



evident. One's only chance seemed in the pos- 

 sibility of getting a shot at an old buck on the 

 top before dawn. As to the ground at the base 

 of the cliffs, while the day was yet young I had 

 certainly seen a herd in which were some good 

 bucks grazing far below us ; but it would have 

 been some hours' work to get down, by which 

 time it was odds that they would have moved 

 up into their fastnesses. The local shikaris, too, 

 assured us that the low ground was no good, as 

 one could not get above the ibex owing to the 

 cliffs, while the wind never permitted an approach 

 from below. It seemed, therefore, that the old 

 goats of the Palang Kuh had chosen their resi- 

 dence with a good deal of sagacity. 



That Rahmat was not with me was also a fact 

 that I much regretted. Some days before I had 

 sent a man to bring that cunning hunter to my 

 camp, and he had in fact come. Rahmat, how- 

 ever, had an enemy who had his tents at the 

 Jhuli springs not far from my camp. That was 

 one reason for his vanishing the following night. 

 The other, as I afterwards heard, was that Rustam 

 and his brother, who had their flocks at Baba 

 Rahdar, under the Palang Kuh, had frightened 

 him off by hinting that I intended to take him 

 shooting with me to Kain. 



As evening came on, and nothing had been 



