ioo CHINESE TURKESTAN 



The stalk proved to be even longer and more 

 difficult than I had anticipated, as the ground was 

 in places very open, and so we had to crawl a good 

 deal, which is not a rapid mode of progression, 

 especially uphill. Also, we had to get in and out of 

 a deep side-valley ; the sides of this were covered 

 with fresh snow, fallen during the night, which took 

 some time and care to negotiate. At last, about 

 four hours after leaving the Kalmak, all difficulties 

 were surmounted, and only 500 yards of broken 

 and very easy ground separated us from the ibex, 

 which were also a little below us altogether a most 

 favourable position. 



Getting a shot now seemed to be an absolute 

 certainty, so I sat down for a few minutes to rest 

 and get my wind into shooting form before going 

 on, as one very quickly gets blown at anything over 

 10,000 feet, and this at a venture was near 12,000. 

 But in sport there is many a slip between cup and 

 lip, and this was destined to be one of the slips, 

 owing to the idiotcy of the Kalmak. The herd I 

 had originally started after were now far below and 

 lying down, but suddenly they all got on their feet, 

 and after a look down the valley began to move off 

 up the hill away from me. I also looked down to 

 see the cause of this, and there was that miserable 

 Kalmak calmly walking up a grass flat in the 

 middle ; he had on a black coat and was a most 

 conspicuous object. I still hoped against hope that 



