296 HUNTING TRIPS 



feet. Peeping over the brink of the chasm 

 I saw a buck, lying out on a ledge so nar- 

 row as to barely hold him, right on the face 

 of the cliff wall opposite, some distance be- 

 low, and about seventy yards diagonally 

 across from me. He lay with his legs half 

 stretched out, and his head turned so as to 

 give me an exact centre-shot at his forehead ; 

 the bullet going in between his eyes, so that 

 his legs hardly so much as twitched when he 

 received it. It was toilsome and almost dan- 

 gerous work climbing out to where he lay; 

 I have never known any other individual, 

 even of this bold and adventurous species 

 of deer, to take its noonday siesta in a place 

 so barren of all cover and so difficult of ac- 

 cess even to the most sure-footed climber. 

 This buck was as fat as a prize sheep, and 

 heavier than any other I have ever killed ; 

 while his antlers also were, with two excep- 

 tions, the best I ever got. 



END OF PART ONE. 



