The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



had half skinned the second one when I had to 

 stop owing to its becoming too dark to see 

 properly. Shanghai helped me, therefore, to 

 get this second ram into the valley, which was 

 not more than eighty yards away. Now, there 

 is a sort of green, slimy moss that grows on these 

 mountains which when trodden on, especially 

 when wearing mocassins, is as slippery as ice 

 slippery is hardly the word to convey my 

 meaning, for the moss makes the ground more 

 of a greasy or soapy nature ; anyhow, it was 

 slippery enough in the dark to give me a bad 

 toss, and in falling I had the misfortune to hit 

 the cap of my left knee on a sharp point of rock. 

 This hurt most frightfully, and it was with the 

 greatest difficulty that I managed with Shang- 

 hai's help to crawl the short distance back to 

 camp. I got there at last, and promptly made 

 some bandages of an old flour sack, which I tore 

 up and sewed together. My knee had now 

 swollen considerably. Hunter bathed the place 

 with hot water, and then I made a saturated 

 solution of salt and water, which I applied to 

 the bandages. Shanghai and Elia went out and 

 brought in the two sheepskins and some of the 

 meat, the rest following next morning. I was 

 now hors de combat for two days. Had I attempted 

 to walk I should probably have been laid up for 

 weeks with inflammation of the knee-joint I 

 therefore had to endure it. Hunter went out 



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