GOOD LUCK. I47 



but ignorant from where the danger threatened, so 

 stood still. The noble-looking buck was nearest 

 me. The report of my left-hand barrel answered to 

 the pressure of the trigger, the stricken beast sprung 

 into the air, then blindly rushed forward, cannoned 

 off a rock, fell, attempted to regain its legs, and 

 soon after ceased to struggle. But where were their 

 comrades now ? the description I have given asks 

 that I should state. From whence the danger came 

 had been discovered by the remainder of the 

 coterie, and they are flying up the hillsides at a pace 

 that would defy any horseman in the world to follow 

 from the break-neck nature of the country. For 

 more than a mile I watched them with my glass ; 

 still there was no diminution of their speed. Then 

 a crest of a hill shut them out of view. Will the sur- 

 vivors ever visit that valley again ? I doubt it ; for 

 within its picturesque embrace, friends and relatives 

 dear to them had been ruthlessly slain, and I attri- 

 bute an amount of intelligence to the brute creation, 

 that I would withhold from many representatives 

 of my own race. 



Sunday had seen me shoot, and he was in 

 ecstasies at the result. My skill by him was 

 weighed by my success, but there was no credit due 

 to me as a marksman. Anyone, unless partially 

 blind or cross-eyed, could have done the same. It 

 is marvellous where the people turn up from. Scarce 

 had I finished smoking a pipe of tobacco, and 



l 2 



