46 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



through the shoulder. Firing at a third we 

 noticed it to stop suddenly, turn round and 

 bound along at an incredible rate, considering 

 the nature of the ground ; having secured the 

 two dead goats we followed as fast as possible 

 in the direction of the third, which we thought 

 was wounded. After scrambling along the 

 beach, climbing huge boulders and seeing nothing 

 of it, we concluded that it must have escaped, 

 when we came upon the animal lying down, 

 with the blood streaming from a wound in the 

 head. It sprung up and bolted, giving me only 

 a stern shot with apparently no result ; however 

 by following it up we at length caught and 

 despatched it. The first ball had cut a deep 

 groove across the forehead, and the other had 

 raked it lengthways, or, as we say, " Fore and 

 aft." "The vitality of these animals is extra- 

 ordinary, and I can quite credit what I heard 

 of one having nearly escaped with seven rifle- 

 balls in his body. 



The next morning I started up the mountains 

 on foot, accompanied by one of the officers and 



