224 HUNTING TRIPS 



crest of the spur up which he had run, 

 he stopped and turned partially round. Fir- 

 ing again from a rest, the bullet broke his 

 hind leg far up and went into his body. Off 

 he went on three legs, and I after him as 

 fast as the horse could gallop. He went 

 over the spur and down into the valley of 

 the creek from which the coulie branched 

 up, in very bad ground. My pony was 

 neither fast nor surefooted, but of course 

 in half a mile overhauled the three-legged 

 deer, which turned short off and over the 

 side of the hill flanking the valley. Instead 

 of running right up on it I foolishly dis- ' 

 mounted and began firing; after the first 

 shot a miss it got behind a boulder hith- 

 erto unseen, and thence over the crest. The 

 pony meanwhile had slipped its hind leg 

 into the rein ; when, after some time, I got 

 it out and galloped up to the ridge, the most 

 careful scrutiny of which my unpractised 

 eyes were capable failed to discover a track 

 on the dry ground, hard as granite. A day 

 of two afterwards the place where the car- 



