98 Sport and Life. 



stones, awakening the echoes among the impending cliffs. I found, 

 however, that so used do the denizens of these rocky wastes get to 

 such noises from their own inability of moving over these slopes 

 without starting rocks, that, so long as they do not see or wind you, 

 they will not be alarmed. The antelope-goat is a singularly fear- 

 less animal, while its innate curiosity will lead it to face signs of 

 danger from which most other wild animals will flee. 



Let me relate one incident that will prove this. I had sighted 

 a solitary ram grazing on one of the frequent amphitheatre-shaped 

 steep slopes, but well down about the middle of the declivity, while I 

 was on the top of the knife-backed ridge. Unfortunately the goat had 

 seen me, and had taken to his hoofs, but in a very leisurely manner, 

 keeping in his flight a course parallel to mine, i.e., approaching 

 neither the top nor the bottom of the slope. It was a very long 

 shot, and my trial shot, taken very steadily while he was making 

 one of his frequent stands, missed him a little to the left, proved 

 that my distance judging was fairly correct. I hoped to get nearer, 

 so I reserved my fire, and for the next three-quarters of an hour a 

 most exciting steeplechase took place, my only course being to 

 follow out the ridge. A chamois would have put himself beyond 

 danger in a few minutes, though our respective paths were not 

 smooth ones. Indeed, his was as rough as mine, huge boulders, 

 piled over each other, or separated by dark yawning chasms, 

 generally too broad even for a goat's muscles, making progress 

 very slow. But no doubt there was a good deal of fooling about 

 the old billy's proceedings, for from time to time he would squat 

 dow r n and take a rest, much amused, no doubt, by the frantic 

 scrambles of his breathless pursuer above him, clearly outlined 

 against the horizon, and feeling very sure that the shaking aim 

 would be anything but dangerous to him. In this he was right ; 

 for eleven times in the course of that singular race did I throw 

 myself flat on some handy rock, and take as deliberate aim at my 

 distant quarry as my unsteady hands, trembling from the exertion in 

 the trying atmosphere of these high altitudes, would allow. Eleven 

 times the bullet whizzed past him, once detaching a fragment of 



