THE -500 EXPRESS. 103 



something wrong with my sight or the native's, when suddenly I saw 

 something move, and at once the head of a thar was as visible as if it lay 

 on a table before me. The whole of its body was concealed by the 

 shrubs, and, although the man said he could see three, I could not find 

 the others. He became so excited that the beasts got alarmed, and up 

 they sprang, literally rising from what looked a perpendicular mass of 

 green shrubs, if I may so describe it. I had the single '450 in my hand, 

 and tried to select the best, firing hurriedly as they darted down the rocks. 

 He disappeared, and, snatching up the '500, I let the next best have it ; 

 lie vanished into a cleft in the corrie, and I failed to stop or hit the third. 

 Almost immediately afterwards I saw one falling head over heels down 

 into the valley below, and two others clambering off. My men recovered 

 one, hit fair enough by the '500, but the other I either missed or hit in the 

 wrong spot, for I never saw him again. The ground was so bad that I 

 could not get down to the dead beast, and had to await the return of nay 

 man to get up to the easier ground above. 



In the evening we saw a magnificent hoary old male on the far side of 

 a wide ravine, but it was too late to follow him, and all next day on his 

 ground was unsuccessful, for we saw many females and small males, but 

 no signs of my friend. I spent three days more on these cliffs firing at 

 nothing, and then returned to camp. 



Next week I visited another part, but it came on to rain and literally 

 poured for five days and nights with little intermission. I got out for an 

 hour or two occasionally, seeing game but being rolled up in fog and mist 

 before I could do anything, and the toil of clambering back and hunting 

 for camp was awful. I gave in at last and went down to my permanent 

 camp, luckily escaping any ill effects. 



A few days after I met another shooter who had bagged the old male I 

 saw the week before, or one very like it, as he crossed the hills the day 

 after I went down ; the horns were a little over 14in. I think, and he met 

 with him just under the sheep-path he was marching along. 



The first thar I ever shot was at long range with a 12-bore rifle, a 

 regular fluke, but I shot a fine male with the right barrel at seventy 

 yards, and missed another with the left a day or two afterwards. A 

 friendly shepherd took me to their haunts, where we came on two feeding 

 at the head of a gorge ; they bolted up the rocks, and I had a nice shot at 

 the chest of the first ; he fell dead, but the 200 yards sight got knocked 

 up somehow when I meant to raise the 100 for the other, and the bullet 

 went just over him. 



The skins are worth having for rugs when in good order early or late in 

 the season, and I would gladly have a week after thar now if I could get the 

 chance. The scenery is superb, and the various other game one meets 

 with supplies much material for observation and study. Clambering up 

 and down from thar ground, you may meet gerow. serow, bear, gooral, 

 khakur, two or three kinds of pheasants, foxes and porcupines. 



