Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



clouds that had been below us, lying over the 

 Dun valley, came rolling up, and presently we 

 were enveloped in them. A brisk breeze, however, 

 kept them moving, so we had clear intervals. 

 When everything was blotted out I sat down, and 

 during one of these waits I heard a sharp "hiss" 

 not far off. " Gural, sahib, " whispered Hira Singh ; 

 and I knew I was close to one of these Himalayan 

 chamois. A break in the clouds, and there he 

 was, within fifty yards, a shaggy, grey beast just 

 the colour of the rock that half hid him. His fore- 

 end was exposed; crack went my rifle, over he 

 came, and at that instant down came the clouds 

 again, so densely that for a minute or two we 

 couldn't hit off where he had been, but came on 

 him suddenly stone dead where he had fallen. 

 On these expeditions I always took a "tiffin 

 coolie," or lunch bearer, who followed at a re- 

 spectful distance, and could be used also for 

 carrying game back to camp. He took charge of 

 the gural, while Hira and I continued to the end 

 of the spur, where I met Woodyatt, and we sat 

 down to feed. The gural was a nice-sized buck 

 with a good head. 



The weather had now changed for the worse, 

 the clouds had settled down on us, and it was 

 raining a steady drizzle. We decided, therefore, 

 to leave the high ground, and climbed down about 

 1,000 feet to some heavy jungle ; here, however, 



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