64 Sport and Life in the Fiirther Himalaya 



not to wait long. The taint on the wind appar- 

 ently reached the urial all together, for the 

 whole herd suddenly sprang to their feet and 

 disappeared into the ravine on our side. A few 

 seconds' intense expectation and we hoped to hear 

 the rattle of stones showing they were coming 

 our way. But not a sound. After half a minute 

 we got up and looked about. Then we saw what 

 had happened : a cloud of dust a hundred yards 

 below showed our herd were crossing that way, 

 and had not taken the line we had expected. 

 They were not visible, but on running back to 

 the next ridge we saw them one by one topping 

 a little spur about 150 yards from us. I sat 

 down, elbows on knees, and hoped the big ones 

 had not already gone. No, here they came. 

 Last of all the light-coloured ram with black ruff, 

 which I had marked as a shade bigger than the 

 other. They lolloped up the slope, my bullet 

 sped, and they were gone. Hit or miss ? Gul 

 Sher ran down to the spot, and 1 saw him examin- 

 ing the tracks and then sit down and pull out 

 his glasses. He had evidently spotted the herd. 

 Anxiously I awaited his signal. It came soon 

 enough, and I knew I had missed, and that there 

 was no one to blame but myself. 



On our way back, we sat down at intervals 

 with the idea of seeing where the herd had gone ; 



