GOREL 69 



in words their whispering becomes more and more 

 emphatic, louder and louder. 



All to no purpose ! If they were to scream aloud, 

 I still could not understand their language. 



" In which direction is he ? Is it far off?" I ask 

 in English, forgetting that they speak nothing but 

 Kashmiri. 



By Jove ! Suddenly I, too, catch sight of some- 

 thing moving. A yellowish - brown creature, so 

 difficult to distinguish against the same-coloured 

 background that it is almost invisible even through 

 the telescope, and so far away that even with the 

 aid of the latter it would be impossible to hit him. 



The gorel is feeding far below us, slowly making 

 his way up the mountain-side opposite. Now he 

 climbs quicker, stands still, listens, looks round, 

 goes on feeding. 



We lie motionless. I try with the glass to form 

 some idea of his head adornments. 



" Bara," whisper the shikaris but does not the 

 Indian always express himself in superlatives ? 



Meanwhile the buck has turned round, and is 

 now feeding in the opposite direction, going ever 

 further and further away from us, until he at last 

 disappears behind a rock. 



" Nothing to be done at present ! " Such is the 

 unwelcome news which Unkar conveys to me by 

 signs. We jump up to try to cut him off. If 

 only we had a Zeppelin-ship now ! Or if we could 



