THE STOKIES OF TWO IBEX. 



I WAS after ibex for the first time in my life. 

 For two days we had been looking for a herd 

 which, as tracks showed us, frequented the crags 

 at the head of the glen where my tent was 

 pitched, but so far without success. This even- 

 ing, however, the faint tinkle of a falling stone 

 drew my shikari's telescope in the right direction. 



"Follow," he said, "the next ridge to the one 

 we are on, right up to the top, where the patches 

 of snow begin : you will see a big rock like a 

 fort : they are on that." 



The directions were unmistakable, and I was 

 soon reaching for the big telescope to see them 

 better. 



What a thrill the sight of any new game animal 

 gives one ! Not indeed like one's first of all ; 

 for whether he be a Scotch stag or the modest 

 but not less sporting black buck of India, that 

 is a sensation that comes once only in a lifetime. 

 Of course the ibex looked enormous. They were 



