400 THE EVIL GENIUS OF THE GLEN. 



quietly down to feed, upon which we at once proceeded to 

 gird up our loins for the business before us. Two men we 

 had brought with us for carrying game were left as markers 

 on the ridge, with directions not to leave it unless the tahr 

 should move off before we could get within range of them. 

 As we left the ridge I turned a parting look towards Doona- 

 giri, where the bluish- grey shadows were now growing longer 

 and deeper, and the declining sun was beginning to tinge the 

 western slopes of the mighty frozen pile with a beautiful 

 golden light. 



The long narrow gully we had ascended to the ridge was 

 unfortunately in full view of the tahr, and there was 110 other 

 way of getting down, but we trusted to being able to descend 

 it unobserved by keeping as much as possible under cover 

 of the rhododendrons on either side. An hour's work from 

 the ridge brought us within what we judged must be pretty 

 close under where we had last seen the tahr from below, and 

 as our markers had not left the ridge, we knew the animals 

 had not moved away. But the evil genius of the glen, in the 

 shape of ill-luck, seemed still to dog our footsteps. To our 

 dismay a dense cloud of mist now came whirling round from 

 below and soon hid everything above. The wind, too, which 

 had hitherto been right, suddenly shifted and blew straight 

 up towards the tahr. In vain was all our patient waiting 

 until the mist cleared off, for when it temporarily did so, we 

 saw that our markers had quitted their post, from which we 

 knew that our game was up and gone. They afterwards told 

 us that the tahr were all lying within 150 yards, directly 

 above us, at the time we became enveloped in the mist. 



As it was now getting late, our guide proposed that, instead 

 of our returning by the long round below, we should take a 

 shorter way he knew of over the mountain above. Now 

 short cuts are not invariably the easiest or the quickest, 

 and more especially when they have to be made through the 

 clouds. It was all very well for Ganna with his habitually 



