AN UNEXPECTED APPARITION. 249 



clatter close above us, as the third markhor, which we im- 

 agined had preceded his companions over the brow, starts 

 wildly up from where he has been standing unnoticed in the 

 deep shade of the crag behind which we have approached. 

 So utterly astounded am I at this unexpected apparition, that 

 I actually miss the monster at about eighty yards distant, as, 

 with his splendid horns thrown backward, he springs nimbly 

 up from rock to rock until he vanishes with a bound over a 

 ridge rising just above the crag. 



Here was a nice mess I had made from firing that long 

 random shot ; and how often are good chances thus stupidly 

 lost ! But " there is no use crying over spilt milk," so we 

 climbed up to examine the spot where the buck was when I 

 shot at him. He must have had a very close shave, for there 

 lay a lock of his long beard, which had evidently been cut off 

 by the bullet. We followed him over the ridge and down 

 into another deep valley, where his tracks led across a steep 

 snow-bed, on which, had he been wounded, we could not 

 have failed to find traces of blood, however small ; besides, 

 it was now getting late, and we were a considerable distance 

 from camp, so with much reluctance and regret we gave him 

 up as lost. 



Gamoo, lively under any circumstances, now proposed a 

 glissade down the snow-bed, as our way home led in that 

 direction. So we had soon almost forgotten, for the time, our 

 disappointment as we all went sliding, and I being less 

 expert at it, as often rolling, down the steep slope, much to 

 the amusement of my companions, who shouted with laughter, 

 in which I heartily joined. The shock to my nerves, once 

 experienced on beholding this easy and rapid method of 

 descending a steep snow-field, I shall never forget. I was 

 hunting ibex at the time on the mountains north of the Sind 

 river in Cashmere. One day, when shifting our ground, we 

 had to traverse a long sloping arete of snow, the crest of 

 which was so sharp and hard that we had at times to cut 



