120 MY FIRST IBEX. 



and the shikarie declared he could smell the ibex. Presently 

 he stopped and pointed ; I took a step forward and saw a 

 doe ibex feeding about sixty yards below ; as she turned and 

 exposed her side, I fired, saw the ball strike and I gave her 

 the contents of the other barrel as she dashed away, but 

 soon she fell over and in her struggles rolled down a preci- 

 pice full eighty feet in height ; I found her quite dead at the 

 bottom, a fine beast with good horns. After cutting off her 

 head I went down to Brine who was 

 waiting for us below, and after stopping 

 there some time proceeded to watch for 

 sambur, the shikaries going up to the top 

 of a high hill. We had not waited long 

 when we saw three ibex come over a 



My FIRST IBEX. ,•■,, ,. , 



hill some distance away ; one a large 

 buck standing on the sky line looking out. As soon as 

 they had all disappeared I started to stalk them with Brine's 

 shikarie, who had come down from the hill, but they had not 

 waited for us. 



Meanwhile Brine had moved from where we had left 

 him and we saw him stalking four ibex, all apparently very 

 large bucks ; however, it turned out that he had not seen 

 these large ones, but only the outward sentinel above, a 

 female, which he stalked to within sixteen paces and put a 

 ball through her head ; she rolled over and over down the 

 hill, the remainder of the herd, nine in number dashing away, 

 his second bullet scattering the dust over some of them ; they 

 came along the rocks over which I had been stalking and by 

 running round under the shoulder of the hill I crept over 

 the top just as they were all passing some seventy yards 

 below me ; I fired at the biggest looking buck at the 



