Ahu-Gardani 107 



thick night at sea that is all. I recollect a 

 shikari telling me he saw gazelle under a hill 

 so far away that I thought he was lying. Even 

 with glasses I could see nothing. On taxing 

 him with a too vivid imagination, he admitted 

 he could not see them now, though he persisted 

 that he had seen them. After going a long 

 way, I found he had spoken the truth. The 

 flash of the sun on a white stern had sent my 

 wild shepherd a helio message that he could 

 not misread. Against the sun, gazelle are almost 

 impossible to see unless quite close. 



As we ride on, eyes are fixed on the horizon, 

 and occasional halts are made for more careful 

 examination with the glasses. Suddenly, with 

 a noisy flapping, a bustard springs into the air, 

 nearly scaring my horse out of his wits. Then 

 another gets up, then more from far and near, 

 till seven or eight of the big birds, their long 

 necks stretched out, are going off with heavy, 

 wandering flight across the plain. One wonders 

 how they escaped notice on the ground. A 

 golden cloud of dust is visible low down in the 

 distance ; farther on a darkness appears below 

 it, which later on turns out to be a flock of 

 sheep and goats, the property of Baluch nomads. 



We will ask the astonished shepherd boy if his 

 plain holds ahu. Not improbably he will tell us 



