152 KAMZAN'S DISAPPOINTMENT. 



forward over the ridge to mark the herd, now reappeared on 

 it, and, to my infinite relief and joy, shouted back that one 

 of the ibex had dropped just beyond it But, on getting up 

 to him, I was again rather taken aback by the rueful expres- 

 sion of his countenance. 



" Why, what's the matter ? " said I. " It's all gone wrong," 

 replied he, with a rapid succession of his exasperating inter- 

 jections of disappointment. " What's all gone wrong ? " I 

 asked, with much anxiety and a little irritation, wondering 

 what could possibly have happened now. " The khel, he's all 

 spoilt," he testily answered. Not knowing what on earth to 

 expect from all this, I proceeded, in a state of bewildered 

 suspense, to where the buck had dropped. There the beast 

 lay, stone dead, jammed between two rocks, and a bullet- 

 hole in his chest testified to his being the first animal I had 

 shot at. " Look ! " said Ramzan, almost weeping, " he's quite 

 dead, and all that meat is lost." What had happened began 

 now to dawn on my perplexed mind. The ibex had expired 

 before the old man had had time to bleed him. Consequently, 

 according to his idea, the flesh was useless, for, of course, no 

 good Mohammedan could eat of an animal which had not had 

 its throat operated on by a follower of the Prophet with all 

 customary form before the pulses ceased to beat, and Ramzan 

 Meer was an extra-devout old Moslem. 



My recovered energies were at once devoted to following 

 up the second animal I had shot at, as, from the fact of our 

 only observing four of the six bucks taking their way over the 

 snow-fields far away above, we concluded that he too must 

 have been hit, and so sorely as to be unable to keep up with 

 the rest. But, unfortunately, we could find no traces of him 

 to guide us, so we returned to flay the dead one. 



A pleasing reaction now came over my feelings, and I 

 really think that this was one of the proudest moments of 

 my life, as I sat there smoking my pipe and admiring the 

 massive and perfect horns. At last I had attained the object 



