192 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



by the herd, though we had been moving along, so 

 I ran as hard as I could towards the spot. Before 

 getting to the edge, the rams appeared on the far side 

 going off at their heavy canter, and it was clear that 

 they had seen us. I sat down, and as one stopped to 

 take a look round, fired, and to my infinite relief 

 down he went in a heap. The shikari, who had 

 followed me, shouting over his shoulder something 

 like te margan ye te margan ye "you are, you 

 are a shikari," plunged down the cliff to perform 

 the hallal. The two other rams were now going 

 away hard along the edge of the ravine, and taking 

 the rearmost, I was lucky enough to hit him with 

 a bullet in the base of the neck, and he went down 

 head over heels into the greenery below. No one who 

 has not experienced the depression in the mental 

 barometer that accompanies such ill weather as I 

 had been having, can understand with what a 

 bound, at such a moment at this, it jumps up to 

 " set fair." My hunters were as extravagant in 

 their delight as they had previously been plain- 

 spoken in their disgust ; and when it came to an 

 examination of the dead rams, there was no 

 shock of disappointment for me, as they were a 

 good deal bigger than anything I had previously 

 seen. The horns measured 38J and 34 inches 

 respectively. 



The spell was broken. The following day I 



