36 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



risk nothing ; the herd was absolutely unalarmed ; 

 and finally, Gul Sher was against it. So we crept 

 farther still along the ridge, to a point from where 

 I should get a view of his red back lying not forty 

 yards below me. With extraordinary care I crept 

 to the edge. Nothing to be seen. I pushed my- 

 self a little farther over. At this moment there 

 came a low growl of thunder, and fearful thought ! 

 I felt a breath of cold air on the back of my 

 neck. Almost simultaneously a tremendous clatter 

 of stones and a cloud of dust arose from below me. 

 An exclamation of intense disgust came from Gul 

 Sher. The hillside seemed alive with ibex, dashing 

 at headlong speed along the cliff-side away from 

 me. I swung my legs over the edge, to get a 

 sitting shot at the big one when he should appear, 

 but they seemed all small. 



"There is no use looking that way," said Gul 

 Sher; "the big one has gone down the ridge." 



The shikari was standing up, looking away down 

 the ridge through his glasses. I found the direc- 

 tion, and saw two ibex going hard five hundred 

 yards away, and they were lost to view. 



We followed them down the ridge, a difficult 

 descent that nothing but the thought of that big 

 ibex would have induced me to make ; but he 

 had evidently not stopped, and had gone on into 



