KRISH NULLAH 73 



very top of the valley we had been ascend- 

 ing. Then a five minutes' rest, while 

 Lassoo preceded us some yards to recon- 

 noitre, coming back immediately to say that 

 the ibex were level with us, about eight 

 hundred yards off. A short stalk brought 

 us within two hundred yards of them, with 

 only one open valley between us, so that 

 evidently we could hope to get no nearer. 

 We could not make out, for certain, which 

 was the biggest of the three males we saw. 

 Lassoo got his telescope out, and after a 

 careful look at them, pronounced our quarry 

 to be the light-coloured piebald whom we 

 could just see near a rock in the snow ; and 

 handed me the glass so that I could make 

 certain. I was about to look, when sud- 

 denly the whole herd went off at a slow 

 canter, round the corner of the hill, and 

 out of sight. I was for following them up, 

 but Lassoo said it was not the right thing 

 to do. " No," he said, " we will get under 

 cover till the afternoon, and then have 

 another try, because they are not really 



