A SUCCESSFUL HUNTER. 181 



the ridge, he reached a spot which he supposed would 

 be within easy range of the goat. He peered round 

 the edge of the crag, but the animal had disappeared. 

 The goat, however, came from behind a rock and 

 stood about a hundred yards away. He was across 

 a canon, but the naturalist rested the Winchester on 

 a rock and after steady aim fired. The goat plunged 

 head foremost over the cliff into the canon below. 

 Dyche hastened back after his shoes and load of 

 skins, and went after his second prize, which he 

 found at the foot of the precipice. 



The naturalist's thirst was so overpowering that 

 he determined to drink the blood of the goat, but 

 when he cut the animal open the strong musky odour 

 was too much for him, and he gave up the idea. 

 Finding that little progress could be made down the 

 mountains with his load, he now determined to cache 

 his specimens and come back for them next day. A 

 tree was stripped of its branches with the exception 

 of a bunch at the top, and to this he tied the bundle 

 of skins and bones, and to make it even more con- 

 spicuous he tied his camera to the bare portion of the 

 trunk. The descent to the bottom of the mountain 

 was now made, and here he piled up stones to mark 

 the spot, and placed three piles of small stones on a 

 log. It was dark now. 



Fully satisfying himself that he would have no 

 difficulty in finding the place where he had come 

 down the mountain, Dyche now set himself to the task 

 of reaching the river in order that he might quench 

 the almost overpowering thirst. The river was near, 

 but the great masses of stone which had crumbled 



