A Good Besfinninj 



The rest of the herd had betaken themselves helter-skelter 

 over the rocks, disappearing round the shoulder of the main spur, 

 I was for following them up, so, leaving Numgoon to take the 

 skin and horns back to camp, pushed on with Nurah. Late 

 in the afternoon we again came on the herd, but they were very- 

 restless, keeping constantly on the move, so we returned to camp. 



The next day dawned bright and clear and we decided to try 

 fresh ground in the nullah to the north-west, having to cross a large 

 glacier to reach the crest line, whence we descended into the depths 

 of a rugged ravine, the eastern slopes of which were carpeted with 

 grass. Thereon we espied three bucks having their morning feed 

 unaccompanied by the usual crowd of " madeens," or female ibex. 

 The only possible line of approach was down the bed of the stream 

 and thence under cover of some huge boulders which strewed 

 the lower ground where the bucks were busily cropping the 

 luxuriant herbage. My telescopic binoculars were capable of 

 clearly defining objects at a great distance, so switching these 

 on to the quarry I saw at once that two out of the three heads 

 were exceptionally good ones. 



We had now reached the bed of the ravine and were moving 

 along beneath the shelter of rocks cast down from above in 

 bygone days. Further down, and on a level with the ibex, was 

 an immense slab from which I thought one might be able to get 

 a shot, though possibly rather a long one. Approach to this 

 was a supreme effort, as we were of necessity somewhat exposed, 

 and I feared at any moment the bucks might observe us and take 

 refuge in precipitate flight. But fortune was with me, and it 

 looked as though the long trek from India was to receive its due 

 reward, for we reached the cover of the slab without having 

 been noticed. It was, as I expected, a long shot, but any further 

 advance was out of the question, so covering the biggest of the 

 trio behind the shoulder I pulled, and — a miss resulted ! As 

 is usually the case they paused momentarily, as if to recover 

 from the shock of so sudden a disturbance in their native wilds, 

 affording me time to ram in another cartridge for a second effort. 



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