282 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



for soon after the sun had risen and bestrewn the 

 surface with a million sparkling gems, the crust 

 became soft and walking a toil. Unlike the autumn 

 stalking, in the winter one can be at work all day. 

 The forests, now bare of leaf, can be spied from 

 the opposite sides of the valleys, and in these one 

 may see the deer lying down or moving about, and 

 queer it is to see how big stags force their way 

 through the thickest cover, their antlers, thrown 

 right back on their haunches, seeming to impede 

 them but little. On one occasion we had spied 

 some deer moving towards the open, and were pre- 

 paring to be present at the point where they would 

 emerge, when the dark form of a panther glided 

 across the snow and stopped on the very spot 

 we had marked for ourselves, and there lay like 

 a cat on the watch. Unfortunately, a path to a 

 neighbouring village ran near, and a too melodious 

 passer-by put him away before we could get near 

 enough for a shot. 



I got some good beasts that year, but the four- 

 teen-pointer was not among them. In fact, I never 

 saw him, and the mendacity of Kashmiri shikaris is 

 such that it is by no means certain that he existed. 

 Not that stags with fourteen points are never shot 

 in Kashmir. Since the game laws were introduced 

 several carrying this number of points have been 

 shot, notably a magnificent specimen which fell to 



