CHAPTER V. 



After Ovis foli on the Pamirs. 



I HELD a council of war and decided to try the Wakhijrui nullah 

 in the hope of coming across Ovis poll, should the weather continue 

 favourable enough to go out with any reasonable chance of 

 success. 



That morning, however, my Garhwah orderly, Giyani, com- 

 plained of feeling ill with pains in the head and chest, so for the 

 present all idea of shikar had to be abandoned, and means adopted 

 to combat the sickness. My medical knowledge was limited, to 

 say the least of it, and when the day after the complaint had not 

 apparently yielded to treatment I deemed the best course would 

 be to endeavour to reach Tashkurghan, where a small military 

 hospital in connection with a force of Cossacks was maintained by 

 the Russians. I had taken him into my own tent so that I 

 could watch him through the night and render any assistance he 

 might require. Two days were passed with no apparent change 

 in his condition, days full of anxiety for the safety of my little 

 comrade-in-arms. To reach Tashkurghan meant a trek of 60 

 miles through wind and snow, on the back of the sure, but withal 

 very slow yak. Allowing him to remain where he was without 

 proper medical attention was not to be thought of, so measures 

 were taken to arrange the most comfortable form of conveyance 

 and render the journey to Tashkurghan as easy as possible. This 

 I managed to do by fixing him on the broad back of one 

 of the yaks. Leaving the camp standing, I took only a few 

 necessary articles and set off with him down the valley for 

 Tagerman Su, where I intended halting the night. He bore 

 the journey well, full of that pluck and grit so characteristic of 



