162 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



of rock, not fifty yards from where we were stand- 

 ing. To fling up my rifle and press the trigger 

 was the work of a second, but when the smoke 

 cleared away nothing was to be seen. 



" Cleanly missed, by Jove ! " cried the Doctor, as 

 a shrill snort, followed by a trampling of feet, w^as 

 distinctly heard on the other side of the crest, and 

 for a moment I thought I had made a mess of it. 

 Not so Chineah : he insisted the animal was hit ; 

 and so it proved, for, on running up to the spot, 

 there was a fine full-grown ram stone dead, the 

 bullet having entered the skull right between the 

 eyes. The rest of the herd galloped away in the 

 direction of the ravine where we had marked burrul 

 in the first instance, and on the other side of which 

 Fred had gone to take post. As they had not seen 

 us, I did not think they would go very far, so we 

 pressed on after them, and at last arrived at the 

 edge of the slope, when by craning over, we saw a 

 herd of at least forty burrul grazing undisturbed 

 on the grassy flats below us. Where now was 

 Fred I Ensconcing ourselves behind some rocks, 

 which served as a screen, we waited impatiently his 



