SPORT IN THE TEKKES: IBEX 107 



must have been lit by horse thieves, who put it out 

 when they heard us, we went on down and reached 

 camp in another two miles or so, by which time it 

 was nearly eleven o'clock. It turned out that some 

 of the men had gone up to look for us, lighted that 

 deceptive fire, and then, like idiots, gone away again, 

 leaving it to die out. An hour's ride in the morning, 

 ten hours' walking and climbing on the high ground, 

 followed by a six hours' ride in the dark to top up 

 with, is a pretty hard day's work. 



So much for Akjas. Two easy marches took us 

 to the foot of the valley, and two more saw us back 

 at Kukturuk on October 28th. The faithful Durji 

 was much distressed that I had not got a decent 

 stag after coming so far, and lamented that I had 

 not been with him in his native Koksu during the 

 calling season, saying that in that case I would cer- 

 tainly have got three or four. Even now he vowed 

 it was not too late, and was confident of being able 

 to show me a good stag or two, so I decided to go 

 and have a try. 



