294 A SOLITARY OLD BUCK. 



followers finding the best shelter they could in holes and 

 crannies among the rocks. 



In the afternoon, as I sat scanning the steep ground across 

 the torrent, I could see several young bucks and some tehrny 

 on the crags. At last I detected a solitary old tahr almost 

 hidden among some birch-bushes growing on a sloping ledge, 

 where he was browsing on the young leaves. In the distance- 

 his shaggy coat looked quite black as I caught occasional 

 glimpses of him through the spy-glass. After planning our 

 stalk, I started with Puddoo and Ganna to try and circum- 

 vent him. With considerable difficulty we clambered down 

 to the torrent, where it was spanned by a bed of hard snow, 

 and thence climbed up through a steep wood of tall black 

 pines until we were nearly level with the tahr. He was 

 still browsing among the birch-bushes, at what I judged to 

 be about 150 yards distant across a precipitous rocky gully. 

 After recovering my wind I rested the rifle against a pine- 

 tree, took a steady aim, and let drive. "He's hit!" ex- 

 claimed Puddoo, as the beast seemed to shoot headlong into 

 the gully and out of sight. I was congratulating myself on 

 having, as I thought, secured so fine a specimen, when Puddoo 

 excitedly whispered, " Look ! there he is again," as, to my 

 great surprise, the tahr suddenly reappeared on our side of 

 the gully. As he stopped short to listen and look about 

 him among some fallen pine -trunks within easy range 

 directly below us, I again took a careful shot over a pros- 

 trate tree, which offered a convenient rest. " You've surely 

 got him this time ! " said Puddoo, as the animal seemed to 

 fall over backwards among the fallen trees. After reloading 

 the rifle, we moved down in confident expectation of finding 

 him lying dead ; but nothing was there but the marks 

 ploughed up by his hoofs, where he had evidently galloped 

 headlong down-hill. We followed the track as far as we 

 could do so without risking being benighted on our return 

 over such awful ground, but not a drop of blood was there 

 to be seen on it. 



