266 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



front. At once I pulled him to the ground. When 

 he inquired the reason, I told him what I had seen, 

 and like nearly all Norwegians, he was immediately 

 thrown into a palsy of excitement. However, I 

 got him at last to lie still and promise he would 

 not move, and then, crawling forward, I saw three 

 large reindeer males coming slowly up the hill 

 from below. They were not more than sixty 

 yards off, so I aimed at the best-headed one and 

 gave him a shot through the shoulder, to which 

 he dropped dead. I had scarcely reloaded the old 

 Krag Jorgensen rifle when I spied three more adult 

 stags climbing the hill to the right about a hundred 

 and twenty yards away. The third animal seemed 

 to carry very fine horns, so I fired at him, and he 

 stood quite still, whilst the others galloped wildly 

 uphill. As the wounded beast still remained on 

 his feet, I gave him another bullet, which I after- 

 wards found was unnecessary, and he at once 

 collapsed. 



Two other small herds of reindeer now suddenly 

 appeared, climbing the hill to my left. There were 

 about fifteen animals in each, and all, as far as I 

 could see, were stags. They were about two hundred 

 and fifty yards away, and I could easily have run 

 and intercepted them, had I wished to do so, but 

 my glass showed that there was no stag with better 

 horns than those just killed, so I allowed them to 

 pass upwards and on to the plateau behind. 



The spot where I had killed the two reindeer 

 was situated on a steep slope overlooking a quiet 

 arm of the sea, and after grallocking the animals, 

 Erik suggested that we should return home, and 

 fetch the carcases on the following day by rowing 



