264 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE RETURN. 



4th SEPTEMBER. There was a great to-do with the 

 horses, which were anything hut disposed to resign the 

 life of ease and good cheer which they had recently been 

 enjoying: they careered ahout in every direction, Murad's 

 being the most intractable. I left the Bhooties in hot 

 pursuit, and, starting ahead, breakfasted at our first 

 bivouac, and halted for the night at our second. While 

 waiting the arrival of the baggage, Subhan came and 

 reported a 'jamwar' present. I supposed it was an 

 animal, of course ; but it was a bird of the curlew kind, 

 glossy black. I took the Whitworth, and, retiring to 

 about eighty yards, squatted down, fired, and the bird 

 subsided on its tracks, shot exactly through the middle. 

 Subhan rushed up, and performed ' hallal,' and accepted 

 the bird joyfully, as they had had no flesh for many days. 

 The things came up in good time, horses fresh and strong. 



5th September. We continued our journey up the 

 valley, the route due east, for some ten miles, with occa- 

 sional patches of grass and bushes of considerable extent ; 



