A Bitter Disappointment. 



dangerous quarters. We were ensconced in rear of a ridge 

 running half way across the upper end of the ravine, and the 

 ibex were on the slopes to our left front, a matter of three 

 hundred yards distant. At last the herd started grazing and 

 gradually worked down into a hollow of the ground where they 

 were more or less hidden, thus opening the way for an advance 

 on our part. It was a most risky approach, as the ground was 

 very open below and at any moment one of the officious madeens 

 might catch sight of us, but nothing happened and we managed 

 to gain the near side of the spur over which they had disappeared. 



The herd holding the big head was just beyond, a chance that 

 must have been a certainty, but it was again a case of miss-fires 

 after one had drawn near enough to easily account for him. 

 That day constituted a record for four consecutive cartridges 

 refused to go off, though the ibex went off all right ! 



On the 20th I did the ground lower down the valley, the old 

 ground I had been over when I first reached Agiass. I waited 

 for camp to be struck and then moved to the new place with 

 the caravan, sending off Giyani to the mouth of the valley to 

 bring up fresh ammunition as I was heartily sick and tired of 

 miss-fires, a continuation of which is disastrous to good shooting, 

 the mere idea of experiencing them being quite sufficient to put 

 one off one's aim. 



I pitched camp in a side ravine on the right bank of the 

 Agiass and then went off with Numgoon to the ground above. 

 It was a perfect day, a clear sky and not a cloud anj'where. 

 The view from the higher slopes was magnificent, ranges of 

 snow-capped mountains, glaciers gleaming in the sunlight, and 

 the lovely Agiass River flowing through grassy stretches far 

 below. It made a delightful picture and a fitting one for the 

 brush of an artist. 



Arrived on the top of the ridge we saw ibex in the next 

 dip to our left, but the ground was much too open to admit of a 

 stalk with any chance of a successful issue. We tried hard to 

 work round, but it was too risky and being late in the day 



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