78 IBEX SHOOTING 



and the wind rose ; and in no time we were 

 white from head to foot, and could not see 

 more than fifty yards before us. Gradually, 

 as Lassoo had predicted, the ground grew 

 more and more slippery as the snow deep- 

 ened, until in half an hour we had to 

 scratch it away before we put our feet down, 

 as the grass shoes, now clogged with snow, 

 no longer took a grip. These scratches got 

 gradually deeper and deeper, until at last 

 we were digging regular footholds, and 

 proceeding at the rate of about two yards 

 a minute. 



Our course lay along a ridge which 

 sloped downwards steeply enough ; it was 

 some five yards wide, and on either side 

 fell precipitously into the valley below. 

 Lassoo went first, I followed, and after me 

 came Muksooda, and then Chybra. We 

 were working our way along slowly, having 

 to be very careful about each step, when 

 suddenly something made me look towards 

 Lassoo, who was some ten yards below me. 

 What was my horror to see him flat on his 



