BUCK FEVER. 37 



reminding me that we should be too late for our game if 

 we did not hurry up. As we resumed our ascent, we soon 

 became aware of the presence of a gooral, by a succession of 

 short, sharp, sneezing sort of sounds which we heard above. 

 The animal had been watching us whilst I had been viewing 

 the scenery. We caught only a glimpse of it ere it vanished 

 among the wooded crags. A gooral, when alarmed, almost 

 invariably emits this sound, which is something like that 

 made by pronouncing the word " tschick." If in doubt as 

 to what the danger may be, it will often perch itself on 

 some prominent point, and remain there for a considerable 

 time with its head turned to the suspected quarter, hissing 

 out its note of alarm at short intervals. But when once 

 fairly satisfied of its danger, you may bid good-bye to it. I 

 do not think the sense of smell is so acute in the gooral, 

 nor in any Himalayan animals of the wild -goat family, 

 as it is in those of the deer tribe : this is, however, in a 

 great measure compensated for by keen powers of sight 

 and hearing. 



But we have now reached the crest, and here we call a 

 short halt for breath before examining the open precipitous 

 ground on the south side of the mountain, where the shi- 

 karee says we shall be pretty sure to find our game. We are 

 soon on the move again. As we near the brink of the decliv- 

 ity, Baloo Mar creeps stealthily forward and cautiously looks 

 over it. By the careful manner in which he slowly with- 

 draws his head, and the self-satisfied look he turns towards 

 me, I can tell he has sighted something. Crawling quickly 

 up alongside him, on peering over I have the satisfaction of 

 seeing four gooral browsing unconcernedly on a grassy slope 

 among some broken masses of rock directly below us. Being 

 a tyro at mountain shooting, I am suddenly seized with a 

 severe attack of what, in the backwoods of America, I have 

 heard termed " buck fever " ; so without taking time to 

 judge the distance, or to allow my fast- throbbing pulses to 

 subside, I raise the rifle and let drive at the nearest animal. 



