314 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



buck markhor and ibex. There we lay for nearly an hour and a 

 half hoping they would feed towards us, and a capital oppor- 

 tunity we had of comparing the relative size of the beasts ; 

 the markhor with his superior height and length making the 

 ibex look quite cobby in comparison. Of course an old buck 

 markhor must needs feed ahead of the rest, well out of shot, 

 get our wind, and lead the whole lot at a gallop back to the 

 rocks on the far side of the basin. There the ibex stayed, but 

 the markhor went clean away over the crest of the hill. 



In the evening, while we were watching the ibex in the vain 

 hope they would come down again, behold on the very line the 

 markhor had left by in the morning three male ibex and another 

 flock of markhor appeared descending into the basin. As the 

 markhor were coming down at a good pace we started to cut 

 them off. On came the markhor, which we recognised as a 

 flock we had been hunting all the previous week on another 

 part of the ground. A stiff climb took us near where we had 

 last seen them, and creeping on the shikari who was in front 

 came almost face to face with one, upon which the alarm 

 call began to sound furiously. A run forward only brought the 

 writer within sight of a pair of horns moving off about eighty 

 yards away, but while pushing on to get a shot, suddenly the 

 buck that had convinced us as to the identity of the flock by 

 his upright horns, came into full view broadside on at fifty yards. 

 He rolled over stone-dead to the shot, and as he was lying 

 doubled up with his head underneath him a gun-carrier was 

 sent down to him, while I ran on fast to try for another 

 shot. The rest of the flock, however, had vanished, and as the 

 chase was abandoned a noise was heard : looking round, 

 the spectacle presented itself of the beautiful 5o-in. markhor 

 (such was the first impression ; in reality it was not quite 

 forty) slipping from the clumsy Cashmeree's hands, rolling down 

 the slope over one precipice, then over another, and lodging by 

 the greatest luck just on the top of a third ; the horns were sadly 

 scarred and chipped, but were fortunately not broken. Many 



