76 THE MARKHOR 



The air is icy in spite of the prickling rays from 

 above. Not a living thing is to be seen. Only 

 the fresh tracks of a snow-leopard cross our path. 



What can he find to interest him in this desolate 

 world ? 



" More than likely that he has already made 

 up his mind that our mutton would make him 

 a very good supper to-night," says Paul. 



We follow his tracks, but without success, and 

 meanwhile the chiprassi has arranged the camp. 



We spend the night on this side of the pass, 

 and a bitterly cold one it is too. I shiver in 

 my sleep in spite of my puschtin a Thibetan 

 fur sleeping-rug. 



Poor wretched bearers ! lying out in the star- 

 light in your thin burnous beside a tiny fire, for 

 sticks are not easily to be found in this snow- 

 desert. But what would have been the good of 

 one single puschtin to you all, even if I had not 

 only felt, but also acted according to the Bible ? 



