ar Lake--and hangs there for an hour or two, to
disappear entirely by midday. And so it came about to-day; after a halt
for tiffin, I set forward in brilliant sunshine, while Jane remained
quietly perched on the hillside, as the shikari said the road was not good
for a lady. The shikari was right, as, within ten minutes of starting, we
had to drop from the crest of the ridge to circumvent a big rock which
barred our way, to find ourselves confronted by a very unpleasant-looking
slope of short brown grass, which fell away at an angle of about 50 deg. to
what seemed an endless depth. This grass, having only just become
emancipated from its winter snow, had all its hair--so to speak--brushed
straight down, and there was mighty little stuff to hold on to! Carefully
digging little holes with our khudsticks, and not disdaining the help of
my shikari, I got across, and thankfully scrambled back to the safety of
the ridge.

Now we reached snow, and the going became easier, whereupon Ahmed Bot
promptly set a pace which left me struggling far behind. As the sun grew
stronger the surface-crust of the snow became soft, and at every few steps
one went through to the knees, until both muscles and temper became sorely
tried. For an hour or so we kept climbing up what was evidently one of the
many steep and rugged ranges which, radiating from Haramok, on this side
flank the Wular with their lofty bastions. Having apparently attained the
height he deemed necessary, and got well above the part of the pine forest
in which he expected to find game, Ahmed Bot turned to the left of the
ridge, and we were immediately involved in the deep drifts which covered
the pine-clad slope of the nullah. Over snow-covered trunks of prostrate
trees, over hidden holes and broken rocks, we toiled and scrambled until,
emerging breathless on a bare knoll--smooth and white as a great
wedding-cake--we obtained a searching view into the neighbouring gullies.
Still no sign or track of any "beast," so we worked back until, tired and
hot, I regained the place where Madame lay basking beneath her sunshade.
The shikari and his myrmidons departed to "look" another bit of country,
while I, nothing loth, remained to await events in the neighbourhood of
the refreshment department.

On the return of the men, who had of course seen nothing, we set off for
home, climbing down the edge of the ridge where yellow colchicum starred
the turf. It was steep--verging on the precipi