Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



headlong. A propos of the gerou, I with the 

 wisdom borne of the misfortunes of another, told 

 him that he should never have tried so long a 

 shot ; the sequel to this bit of advice was rather 

 amusing for me. 



Only one more clear day's shooting now 

 remained; our bag was nothing. On my pre- 

 vious expedition I had got a good gural ; but of 

 the animals to be obtained in these regions I yet 

 wanted gerou, karkur, and, most of all, serow. I 

 was up accordingly at 4 a.m., and too impatient 

 to wait for the light, we stumbled off in the dark. 

 It had just got light enough for me to see my 

 sights distinctly, and I had left the high ground 

 when I spotted a little red ball about eighty yards 

 above me ; it was a karkur asleep. I was using a 

 new purchase, a *400 Express by Holland and 

 Holland; a single-barrelled, hammerless ejector, 

 and very handy. I put a bullet into the middle 

 of the ball, and a grand little karkur buck, with 

 good horns and tushes, rolled over and over, almost 

 to my feet, stone dead. This bit of luck put fresh 

 life into me, and I next climbed over a high spur, 

 heading for some deodar forest that lay beyond. 

 On the spur I saw gural, which I let alone, and 

 had a most glorious view of the snows ; then down 

 again among the trees and occasional patches of 

 coppice. I crossed ridge after ridge, keeping at 

 about the same level. Presently I noticed fairly 



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