256 HUNTING TRIPS 



shot or two he will probably be flurried 

 he may miss an absurdly easy shot by 

 not taking pains. I remember on one occa- 

 sion missing two shots in succession where 

 it seemed really impossible for a man to 

 help hitting. I was out hunting on horse- 

 back with one of my men, and on loping 

 round the corner of a brushy valley came 

 suddenly in sight of a buck with certainly 

 more than a dozen points on his great 

 spreading antlers. I jumped off my horse 

 instantly, and fired as he stood facing me 

 not over forty yards off; fired, as I sup- 

 posed, perfectly coolly, though without 

 dropping on my knee as I should have done. 

 The shot must have gone high, for the 

 buck bounded away unharmed, heedless of 

 a second ball; and immediately his place 

 was taken by another, somewhat smaller, 

 who sprang out of a thicket into almost the 

 identical place where the big buck had 

 stood. Again I fired and missed; again 

 the buck ran off, and was shot at and missed 

 .while running all four shots being taken 



