90 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



feed to some well-known and perhaps inaccessible rock, 

 their sleeping-place, where they intended spending the 

 day. The buck that we first saw was the sentinel, and 

 had his aged father not been there, I would have 

 deemed him well worthy of all my skill. The herd 

 meandered listlessly over the grassy sward in among 

 the rhododendron trees, and it was almost unnatural 

 to see these wild creatures in such a lovely spot. 

 Letting them get a rise between us and them, we 

 started off up to the crags as fast as it was possible to 

 climb. The fearful fatigue of such pulls can only be 

 conceived by such men as have experienced it. Suffice 

 it to say, at the top the wind of all three of us, 

 including myself, though I am in the hardest condition 

 (my weight is scarcely over 1 2 stone ; i 3 stone 6 Ibs. it 

 used to be), came in sharp gasps, my legs trembled with 

 the long tension in the muscles, and the perspiration 

 flowed in little Niagaras from our faces. Down we sat 

 and killed two birds with one stone, taking off my boots 

 and getting fresh wind. Having taken off everything 

 that would impede any snake-like motion through the 

 grass, and leaving the Lascar, much to his disgust, 

 behind us, gently then, as if our very lives depended 

 on each and every step, we crept like two tigers after 

 our noble game. Dodging from one tree to another, 

 we at last came to the rise, at the other side of which 

 we felt certain we should see the ibex. Haste was 

 necessary ; as once the ibex lay down, and the sentinel 

 had chosen his place, we would have had to wait all 

 day in patience. Stepping into his footsteps, I 

 followed Francis, who was trembling with unusual 

 excitement, an expression of the most deep anxiety 

 settling on his dark face ; no gambler ever felt the 

 weight of the next throw more sharply. Step by step 

 we gently appeared over the ridge, when my eye just 



