AN ANXIOUS MOMENT. 183 



the same feeding-ground. Under these circumstances it is 

 useless attempting to approach them at present : we there- 

 fore continue to watch them until they are hidden from our 

 sight, and then descend to our bivouac, intending, after 

 breakfast, to make the best of our way to the spot where 

 they were last seen, there to await their return. 



Our meal is soon despatched, and we are off again. Our 

 progress, however, is slow, for the ground is very difficult, 

 and much time is taken up in digging footsteps across bad 

 places. We take little heed of a buck tahr 1 (here called 

 " jagla "), though he might be easily stalked were we not in 

 pursuit of other game, which a shot might disturb ; and 

 after several hours of climbing and scrambling along, we at 

 length reach our goal. 



Dense masses of murky cloud and rolling mist have been 

 for some time gathering about the crags above us, and dis- 

 tant rumblings of thunder herald an approaching storm. 

 The rain, which soon begins to fall pretty smartly, combined 

 with a cutting cold wind, almost benumbs my limbs for, 

 in my anxiety to be after the markhor, I have forgotten my 

 usual precaution of bringing a blanket with me. Patiently 

 we sit there huddled together, our teeth chattering and 

 bodies shivering with cold, and I am just about to suggest 

 the propriety of returning to a spot where we intended 

 passing the night, when the rattle of a falling stone, de- 

 tached somewhere far up in the mist, falls faintly upon our 

 ears. 



" They're coming down now," whispers Gamoo, followed 

 by a suggestion that we should get more under cover of 

 the ridge of the spur on which we have posted ourselves. 

 Anxiously we crouch there, straining our ears to catch 

 the slightest sound ; but nothing more is heard save the 

 soft patter of falling drops, the echoing claps of thunder, 

 and the sough of the wind among the swaying pine- 



1 On the Pir Punchal the tahr is frequently found on the same ground as 

 the markhor. 



