A GREAT DAY WITH GOATS 87 



of three goats each, two less than our lawful right, 

 we would draw the line, and kill no more. 



The first shot at the pair of invisible goats was to be 

 mine; and as already suggested, the circumstances were 

 like those surrounding a brief moving target in a shoot- 

 ing-gallery. Before us were two rocky crag-points, and 

 behind the one on the left, the animals lay hidden for 

 fully an hour. Between the two crags the V-shaped 

 spot of the meadow, across which I knew my goat would 

 walk or run, looked very small. If he moved a yard too 

 far, the right-hand crag would hide him from me until 

 he would be three hundred yards away. I was compelled 

 to keep my rifle constantly ready, and one eye to the 

 front, in order to see my goat in time to get a shot at 

 him while he crossed that forty feet of ground. 



And after all, I came ever so near to making a fail- 

 ure of my vigil. I was so absorbed in watching that 

 unprecedented band of billies that before I knew it, the 

 two goats were in the centre of the V-shaped stage, and 

 moving at a good gait across it. Horrors! 



Hurriedly I exclaimed to Mr. Phillips, " There they 

 are! " took a hurried aim at the tallest goat, and just as 

 his head was going out of sight, let go. He flinched 

 upward at the shoulders, started forward at a trot, and 

 instantly disappeared from my view. 



The instant my rifle cracked, Mr. Phillips said, 

 imperatively, 



" Don't move! Don't make a sound, and those goats 

 will stay right where they are." 



Instantly we " froze." All the goats sprang up, and 



