22 STALKS ABROAD 



two hundred and fifty." I was glad of his re- 

 minder, for in that country distances, as well as 

 appearances, are terribly deceptive. It was my turn 

 to look around then, but it was no good. The sage 

 bush was high and would have hidden me, had I 

 knelt, so I prepared to take him " off the shoulder." 

 It is the kind of shot I funk at the best of times, 

 and now the little white dot on which my eye was 

 fixed seemed to wiggle in all directions but that 

 of the buck. At last I could stand it no longer 



o 



and pressed the trigger. At the sound, there came 

 a thudding smack which rejoiced my heart, and 

 sent the old gentleman into a paroxysm of delight. 

 Flinging out his arms, he gave me a great hug 

 which nearly cracked my ribs, and fairly danced 

 for joy. " He's yours ! He's yours ! " he kept on 

 saying and hugged me yet again. After his first 

 wild plunge, the buck had galloped past us out 

 of sight, and when I reminded Yarnall of a trite 

 and somewhat irritating proverb he sobered down 

 a bit. 



We walked quickly down to the trail, a thin 

 line among the grey green bushes, worn bare by 

 countless little feet. There were his tracks and a 

 few specks of blood, but the buck himself was no- 

 where to be seen. There was only one direction 

 in which he could have gone without our seeing 

 him, and that was down a small draw on our left. 

 We rode slowly down this draw, but there was no 

 sight of the buck and I began to feel rather nervous. 



