"PUMPED." 309 



eyes suddenly became fixed. Turning his head slowly 

 towards me, he drew my attention to some animals near the 

 mouth of a small gorge some 400 yards off, and whispered 

 "Nian" (Ovis Ammori). 



For the moment the antelopes were forgotten as the spy- 

 glass was directed on the nobler animals, but those in sight 

 turned out to be ewes ; and as Changter assured me that at 

 this season there was little chance of finding old rams and 

 ewes in the same flock, my disappointment was considerable, 

 though I would fain have believed him to be wrong in this 

 instance. He was right, however, as was proved when the 

 beasts got our wind, and the herd, which consisted only of 

 three ewes, sped away up the gorge and disappeared. 



As the sun was still pretty high, we decided upon moving 

 a little farther up the glen on the chance of again finding the 

 antelopes. We were descending the sloping bank with the 

 intention of getting back into the stream-bed, when we heard 

 a clatter amongst the loose stones. To our astonishment we 

 beheld a fine buck antelope coming galloping towards us 

 along the slope, and apparently so bewildered by something 

 that had scared him that he failed to observe us until he got 

 within fifty yards, when, suddenly detecting us, he wheeled 

 sharp round. I had only time to snatch my rifle from 

 Changter and take a snap-shot, before the animal disappeared 

 over the brow of the rise above us. Although he showed no 

 signs of being hurt, I thought from the sound that the bullet 

 had struck him. Quite forgetting the great height we were 

 at well over 17,000 feet I ran back quickly up the slope, 

 and on reaching the top saw the buck standing within twenty 

 yards, his drooping head showing how sorely he was wounded ; 

 but I was quite incapable of using my rifle. There I was 

 obliged to lie down, gasping for breath, with my heart beating 

 as if it were ready to burst, whilst the buck moved slowly off, 

 gradually increasing his pace until he was lost to view in a 

 neighbouring ravine. My two men, who had wisely taken 



