In Theory at all Events 3 1 1 



determined to try my 'prentice hand on first 

 would stand as steady. When the time came for 

 carrying my project into execution, I found I had 

 somehow postponed taking my old shikari, Gul 

 Sher, into my confidence; perhaps there was a 

 lurking suspicion in my mind that he would not 

 take the proper Euskinian view of this form of 

 sport ; and when you come to think of it, to a 

 man whose ideas of shikar were mainly connected 

 with meat, it might appear to be "a little too 

 thick." 



The morning for the start arrived, and still 1 

 had not unburdened my bosom to him, and finally, 

 when he came into my quarters and began to take 

 my '256 from its case, and wipe it down prepara- 

 tory to slinging it over his shoulder, I did not like 

 to shock him by telling him to put it back, salving 

 my conscience with the thought that it would be 

 as well to make a show of going shooting, in order 

 to humour the old man, as without a rifle he might 

 flatly refuse to go out at all. 



The month was July, and the ibex were on the 

 very tops of the mountains, among the crags and 

 aiguilles, whence they would only venture to 

 descend in the mornings and evenings to crop the 

 luscious verdure below them. Our path the first 

 day ran along the side of a roaring torrent swollen 

 by melted snow, the damp mist from which blew 



