70 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



through dense pine woods, when the aurochs dashed out of 

 a thicket, and down a watercourse, barely allowing us a' 

 glimpse ; but soon I saw about a hundred yards off, ascending 

 the other bank, a great ungainly brown beast. There he was 

 at last — 'everything comes to him who waits.' What struck 

 me most during the moment that I was bringing the rifle up 

 was not his size, but the extreme shortness between his knee 

 and fetlock. Bang, bang, went the double Express, the first 

 bullet catching him through the ribs, as he was sideways on, 

 the other just by his tail as he disappeared into the brush. I 

 made record time down that hill, jumping fallen trees, and 

 loading as I went. How I escaped a broken leg I don't know, 

 but I got below him, and saw the beast coming down, evidently 

 very sick. Again, again, and again, I let him have it. I ran 

 up to within forty yards, and when he saw me he lowered and 

 shook his head, but he was too far gone to do more. Not 

 wishing to spoil his skull, I waited till he turned and gave him 

 his quietus behind the shoulder ; he ran twenty yards and fell 

 on his back into a deeply cut watercourse. As we stood on 

 the bank looking down at his great carcase, it struck me as 

 strange that such an ungainly beast, without excessive speed 

 or activity, with eyes and ears small in proportion to those of a 

 stag, should have managed to survive at all in this thickly 

 populated Europe of ours, his very existence being only known 

 to comparatively few people. As he lay I took the following 

 measurements : 



From nose to root of tail 



From top of hoof to top of withers 



Circumference of leg below the knee 



„ of the knee 



„ below the hock 



„ round the hock 



Girth of body 



The last measurement, girth of body, isalittle uncertain, as the 

 beast was lying huddled up, I could not get the tape underneath 

 him, and therefore had to measure one side and then double it. 



