A GREAT DAY WITH GOATS 87 



of three goats each, — two less than our lawful right, — 

 we would draw the line, and kill no more. 



The first shot at the pair of invisible goats was to be 

 mine; and as already suggested, the circumstances were 

 like those surrounding a brief moving target in a shoot- 

 ing-gallery. Before us were two rocky crag-points, and 

 behind the one on the left, the animals lay hidden for 

 fully an hour. Between the two crags the V-shaped 

 spot of the meadow, across which I knew my goat would 

 walk or run, looked very small. If he moved a yard too 

 far, the right-hand crag would hide him from me until 

 he would be three hundred yards away. I was compelled 

 to keep my rifle constantly ready, and one eye to the 

 front, in order to see my goat in time to get a shot at 

 him while he crossed that forty feet of ground. 



And after all, I came ever so near to making a fail- 

 ure of my vigil. I was so absorbed in watching that 

 unprecedented band of billies that before I knew it, the 

 two goats were in the centre of the V-shaped stage, and 

 moving at a good gait across it. Horrors! 



Hurriedly I exclaimed to Mr. Phillips, " There they 

 are!" took a hurried aim at the tallest goat, and just as 

 his head was going out of sight, let go. He flinched 

 upward at the shoulders, started forward at a trot, and 

 instantly disappeared from my view. 



The instant my rifle cracked, Mr. Phillips said, 

 imperatively, 



'' Don't move! Don't make a sound, and those goats 

 will stay right where they are." 



Instantly we " froze." All the goats sprang up, and 



