A SNOW-LEOPARD SHARES OUR SPOILS. 423 



again, with all their heads turned towards us. Singling out 

 the other big fellow, I sent the contents of the second barrel 

 at him, and saw him, as I imagined, go tumbling down after 

 his companion. " Quick ! " whispered Puddoo, " now take the 

 other big one," as he handed me my spare rifle. To my sur- 

 prise, I now saw the big fellow I had just shot at continuing 

 his ascent with the rest of the flock. But, alas ! I had missed 

 my chance, as the other rifle was only a little '360 bore, for an 

 accurate shot with which the ram was now too far out. The 

 second bullet had gone just over the big fellow's shoulder, and 

 had brought down a ewe that had been standing immediately 

 above and behind him. Had it struck an inch or two lower, 

 it would in all probability have killed them both. 



It was disappointing to have thus killed the wrong animal 

 by mistake, but on getting down to the beasts I had shot, it 

 was consoling to find that the ram had perfect horns, 27 

 inches long. As it was now getting late, there was no time 

 to gralloch them, so we merely cut slits in their paunches 

 to let out the foul gas, and taking off the big fellow's head, 

 made the best of our way back to camp, which we reached just 

 before dark. 



Next day the men sent to fetch the dead burrell found an 

 " ounce," or as it is more commonly called, a snow-leopard, at 

 work on them. If the stupids had only had sense enough to 

 leave one of the carcasses as a bait, the beast would certainly 

 have returned to it, and in all probability I should have got 

 a shot at a rather rare animal I was most anxious to kill. 

 During that visit to Goting I had two more days on other 

 good beats ; but as I have said quite enough about burrell- 

 hunting for the present, we will now resume our journey 

 towards Hundes. 



A few miles above Goting the valley suddenly contracts 

 into a deep and narrow defile. Just before entering it, I 

 shot a ram out of a flock of burrell that unexpectedly showed 

 themselves above some high rocks overhanging the track. 



