SPORT IN THE TEKKES : IBEX 89 



work the reward was at hand, for when I reached the 

 crest of the ridge there were the ibex lying down 

 below in fancied security, soon to be rudely disturbed. 

 Now, the ridge was of course a sky-line, and though 

 it was broken by some friendly rocks, among which 

 I crawled, yet no sooner did I put my head round 

 the corner of one of them than a female ibex spotted 

 me, and immediately getting on her feet, proceeded 

 to stare at me in a way which soon attracted the 

 attention of the others. The big buck was perhaps 

 1 20 yards off and lying down, a position which 

 never gives a nice shot ; but I was afraid they might 

 bolt at any moment, so taking a steady aim, I pulled 

 the trigger, and a miss-fire was the result ; with a 

 silent but none the less deep anathema upon all gun- 

 makers, I shoved in another cartridge, and lucky it 

 was that I did so instead of trusting to the left 

 barrel, for the next effort resulted in a clean miss. 

 At the shot the buck leapt to his feet and stood for 

 a moment, uncertain which way to turn ; a fatal 

 moment for him, as the second barrel caught him 

 fair behind the shoulder, and down he went, rolling 

 and bumping and tumbling over rocks, while I 

 trembled lest his horns should be broken. The 

 rest of the herd poured themselves headlong down 

 the hill, and were soon scaling the opposite side of 

 the valley. 



My Kalmak and I scrambled down to the dead 

 beast and cut off his head, a work of some difficulty, 



