A LUCKY FLUKE. 451 



gan to despair of his ever lying down, as we hoped he would 

 do. So I had my breakfast, and by the time it was finished 

 the burrell must have been about two miles off. He now, 

 however, began to show signs of a more permanent stoppage, 

 for all above him was a steep bed of snow, which he evidently 

 did not care to ascend with a broken leg, for he altered his 

 course and moved slowly out of sight in a neighbouring ravine. 

 After watching for some time without seeing the beast 

 emerge from the ravine, we concluded he must have at last 

 lain down there, so we set off as fast as the lead-like weight 

 of our " stumps " and the power of our " bellows " at such an 

 altitude would admit of, until at length we neared the ravine. 

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

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

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

 Nevertheless I was as much astonished as delighted at seeing 

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

 examining him we had some difficulty in finding the mark 



