CHAPTER XXVII 



AN AFTERNOON WITH ARIEL AND IBEX 

 (SARROWIT) 



ONE afternoon (April gth) we had set out, Lowe and I, 

 with the special object of securing two first-class ariel 

 bucks for .my collection. Several herds were sighted 

 some were obviously inaccessible ; others proved to 

 be so. Then, after a series of complex and interesting 

 manoeuvres, we "got in" to a troop of about sixty 

 paused on a sombre shale -slope, and of three good 

 bucks that stood separate, I secured what appeared to 

 be the best at an estimated range of 275 yards. 



An hour later, a great black jebel rose on our front, 

 and Lowe thought he detected game on its hither face. 

 A prolonged scrutiny with the glass satisfied both of us 

 absolutely that the suspected objects were merely the 

 jagged tips of uptilted rocks catching the last rays of a 

 sinking sun. I am convinced that there was no mistake 

 about that. At the same time we both realised that 

 the lowering sun, drooping beyond the hill, was producing 

 strange and illusive colour - effects. Those crude black 

 iron-stone rocks seemed to melt into a glowing mass of 

 molten alabaster, with a haze of liquid false-light inter- 

 posed between it and ourselves. Being satisfied that the 

 hill was untenanted, we continued advancing across open 

 slopes diagonally towards it. Upon arriving within some 

 300 yards, however, a slight movement simultaneously 

 caught our eyes, and- a second survey from this point 

 showed that, after all, the hill was actually full of game ! 



An optical illusion more extraordinary than that which 



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