372 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



favourite shooting position, sitting, elbows resting inside 

 knees, and a stick grasped between thumb and barrel. 

 What an age it seemed, waiting in that murky gloom ! 

 Every moment I expected to hear a cry of alarm and 

 the rattle of descending stones, as the herd dashed off, 

 and all chance of a shot was lost. Once it grew bright 

 enough to make out shadowy forms, next the wind 

 seemed to blow right in their direction, and I made sure 

 they must scent us, but fortune favoured us : the clouds 

 cleared away, and I saw the largest male standing stern 

 to us. There was no time to lose, so, aiming rather far 

 back, I fired, and saw his legs collapse under him, as he 

 slid partly off the ledge, stone-dead. As the others 

 dashed down past us, I hurriedly fired two shots at the 

 second male, and then tore my way through some under- 

 wood to the edge of the little plateau. At first we could 

 see nothing, then a few ibex appeared, following one of 

 their runs close to a cliff below our right, among them 

 the second large male, at which I got a shot before the 

 next rocky shoulder hid them from view. We then saw 

 three females far below us, bolting in the opposite 

 direction ; a shot fired at them found no billet, but a 

 fourth doe, as she followed the others, stood looking 

 down long enough for a bullet to reach her and send her 

 crashing through the scrub. By this time, the others to 

 our right were in view again, but at long range ; Ali 

 said, "A buck leads," and I tried a shot and was just 

 taking aim at another which was slowly bringing up the 

 rear, when it lay down. A hurried shot, as the last 

 female rounded the far corner, and she also rolled down 

 the slope. We went up and measured the big buck, and 



