82 IBEX SHOOTING 



and talked, and looked anxiously at the 

 weather as we chattered with cold. Occa- 

 sionally the wind dropped, and we began 

 to hope that it would clear, but it always 

 blew again with redoubled fury ; presently 

 the snow began to blow in behind our rock, 

 and the fog got denser. Time crawled on ; 

 eleven came, but no change, except that 

 the snow was getting visibly deeper, and 

 now lay some four inches deep round us. 

 Then we drew lots for choice of places for 

 the night, not that there was much choice 

 in the matter. 



Presently quitesuddenly the winddropped, 

 the clouds rolled away, and by noon the 

 sun shone out warm, inspiring us with fresh 

 courage and hope. 



We held a council of war, which ended in 

 our agreeing to work our way on, a hundred 

 yards or so, to the end of our ridge, which 

 ended in a precipitous drop right down to 

 our village. It took us an hour to reach 

 this point ; a look through the telescope 

 showed us the village at our feet, white in 



