344 A LUCKY FLUKE. 



Cautiously we stole towards it, as if treading on eggs ; but 

 on peering into it, not a sign of our burrell could we see. 

 Thinking he must have gone down the ravine, we moved 

 carefully onward with a view to searching for his tracks, 

 and had not proceeded many yards when we heard a clatter 

 behind us. To our surprise we saw that the beast had 

 jumped up from where he had been lying hidden behind 

 the cover of a rock just below where we had at first looked 

 over into the shallow ravine. As he made off upward, along 

 its wide and gently sloping bed, I lay down and got my 

 elbows well planted for the steady pot-shot I each moment 

 expected he would offer if he chanced to stop, as I did not 

 care to risk missing him with a snap running one, which 

 might have scared him away for good. At last he pulled 

 up and turned broadside on to look back. I hesitate to 

 mention the distance that I judged lay between us and 

 him ; suffice it to say, I thought it necessary to raise the 

 sight that was marked 300 yards. Everything, however, 

 was in my favour except the distance. The day was less 

 windy than usual, the ground was fairly level, and my posi- 

 tion was as steady as if I had been aiming at a target. 

 Nevertheless I was as much astonished as delighted at see- 

 ing the ram fall flat on his side without even a struggle. 

 On examining him we had some difficulty in finding the 

 mark of the bullet that had floored him, until at last we 

 discovered it in his neck, close behind the ears, which 

 accounted for his having dropped so stone-dead. It was a 

 lucky fluke. His horns were very prettily arched and 25 

 inches long. We were now a long way from camp, and as 

 we proposed striking our tents early on the morrow, it was 

 necessary to have the burrell fetched down that day ; so we 

 merely covered him up with stones as a protection from the 

 wolves and birds, and after planting a stick with a hand- 

 kerchief attached to attract attention towards the cairn, de- 

 scended as quickly as possible. On our way down we de- 



