A LOST OPPORTUNITY. 105 



nearly opposite he ran knee-deep into the water, 

 and as I thought he was going to swim across 

 to my side of the river I did not fire at him when 

 he halted. For a few moments he stood nearly 

 broadside on, within easy shot. Possibly he 

 scented me, though there appeared to be no 

 breath of wind stirring. At any rate, he 

 turned suddenly and made for the bank 

 again. 



I had been holding my rifle trained on to him 

 for some seconds, and as he turned I still had 

 a good sight on him, and should undoubtedly 

 have killed him had I got in my shot at that 

 moment. But in some way, since pushing in 

 the last cartridge, which must have automa- 

 tically cocked my rifle, I had unconsciously 

 moved the safety catch. I tried in vain to pull 

 the trigger, and by the time I had realised what 

 was wrong and had released the safety bolt the 

 stag was going up the steep bank of the river, 



I fired just as he was going over the top and I 

 know I hit him, but as he was going almost 

 straight away from me my bullet probably 

 struck him either in the flank or hindquarters. 



