312 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



shots I fired. The antelope was by this time almost out 

 of sight, and the kyang had got a long way out on the 

 plain, and had turned round to watch proceedings from 

 what they considered a safe distance. 



I was greatly vexed, as may be imagined, and began 

 wondering what had become of the three bucks first seen. 

 I examined the plain and the slopes around with the 

 glasses, but could see nothing of them. Thinking that 

 they had bolted over the former, and were probably in 

 some of the hollows which were sure to mark its surface, 

 the two shikaris and I started off to explore. It never 

 occurred to any of us as possible, that with several 

 shots fired within half a mile of where the herd had 

 been seen, it could still be in the original spot. But we 

 had been reckoning without the force of the wind, and 

 without considering the small noise made by the .303. 



For just as we crossed the stream, I heard a startled 

 exclamation from the Kashmiri behind me, who instantly 

 dropped to the ground and began worming himself back- 

 wards. As I followed the direction of his eyes and 

 threw myself on my face, I caught sight of a buck lying 

 beyond the knoll, behind which we had originally seen 

 the herd. Clearly none of this group had been startled, 

 either by the sound of the shots fired within half a 

 mile of them, or by the sight of the single buck and the 

 herd of kyang flying over the plain. I could hardly 

 believe my eyes as I wriggled back, and quickly followed 

 the men out of sight of the buck. 



Taking the rifle I started for the knoll, and motion- 

 ing to the shikaris to stay where they were, I ran 

 stooping to its foot, and then crawled to its top on my 



