A PROTRACTED CHASE 99 



looking down into the ibex' nullah. We 

 were on the very edge of a precipice, a 

 sheer drop of about three hundred feet ; 

 then came a ledge of rock, and beyond that 

 we saw nothing but a vast empty space. 

 The other side of the valley, consisting of 

 rocks and snow, was steep too, but not 

 quite so much so. Up the face of this we 

 saw the herd of ibex slowly winding, pick- 

 ing the scanty grass as they came. Now 

 one of them would rear up, as with his 

 knees against the wall he reached for a 

 more dainty morsel ; now another would 

 apparently do a straight-arm-balance, as 

 with his forefeet on a lower ledge of rock 

 he would take his precarious meal in per- 

 fect confidence. Then a larky young male 

 would take possession of a post of vantage, 

 blocking the path, and would threaten to 

 contest the point, rearing and rearing as 

 straight as a line, shaking his head the 

 while and looking very fierce, only to give 

 way on the leisurely approach of the head 

 of the herd, who brooked no such games 



