KRISH NULLAH 69 



it was very important to exactly locate the 

 place where we might expect to find them 

 next morning. Consequently, at about three 

 o'clock in the afternoon we turned out with 

 glasses to watch them. There they were, 

 still on their post, mostly asleep, with one or 

 two females already up, and picking the odd 

 bits of dry grass which grew in the cracks 

 on the face of the cliff, but still the patriarch 

 sat on his pinnacle. Then an impatient 

 female galloped coquettishly down a few 

 yards, and looked inquiringly back for per- 

 mission ; but no, his lordship made never 

 a move ; then the smaller males got up and 

 looked about ; finally, the master of the 

 herd rose with dignity, stretching his stiff 

 limbs and yawning ; then all but he came 

 waltzing down the mountain side as if it had 

 been a ball-room floor instead of an almost 

 inaccessible crag. The chief meanwhile sur- 

 veyed them from above till they had come 

 down perhaps three hundred yards, when 

 suddenly down he came, like a falling rock, 

 and I caught my breath as I held him at 



