WAPITI AND IBEX 115 



facing nearly straight to where I lay concealed. 

 Afraid to wait longer, I covered the point of his 

 shoulder, and, chancing a few intervening branches, 

 let drive. A heavy stumble in answer to the shot 

 showed a hit, and gave me time to loose off the 

 second barrel ; he turned down the hill, and was at 

 once out of sight. I dashed down the ridge, re- 

 loading as I ran, and getting a glimpse of his back, 

 fired another shot, which, as I afterwards found, hit 

 him in the ribs too far back. The first shot had 

 broken his shoulder, and the second, hurried and 

 high, had gone through his ear. 



The ridge ended abruptly in a small cliff, and 

 when I arrived there the stag was already a long 

 way below, but going slowly, and obviously hard 

 hit. Being so much above him, the bushes were 

 not much hindrance to my view, and I could see the 

 whole length of his back, so I sat down to try and 

 stop his career. Resting the rifle on my knees, the 

 first shot was a miss, but the second broke his hip, 

 and down he went. He must have been nearly 

 400 yards away, and this shows the advantage of 

 the -303 rifle, one of which I was using. But the 

 first shot of all hit him fair on the point of the 

 shoulder, and if it had been from a -450 would 

 probably have finished the business at once. 



Getting down as quickly as possible, a shot behind 

 the shoulder finished him, and I had time to admire 

 his horns and congratulate myself on my good 





