XV A BURST CARTRIDGE 271 



he apparently could not make out what we were. As 

 soon as he had moved on, we made for the small rise. 

 As I got to the top, I saw two fair burhel about 70 

 yards off. I sat down, and was drawing a bead on the 

 larger one, when both disappeared, evidently into a hollow 

 beyond. I ran forward, and catching sight of the whole 

 herd making tracks up the hillside, sat down hastily, and 

 fired at the best ram. I was so pumped that I missed 

 clean. Going through the action of reloading, I again 

 pressed the trigger. The hammer fell, but there was no 

 explosion. Opening the breech and looking down, I 

 found that the magazine had slipped from its catch, and 

 that the cartridges would not come up in front of the bolt. 

 As in my hurry I could not get the magazine back into its 

 place, I took out a couple of cartridges and snapped the 

 case back. But the cartridges still would not come up, 

 so I tried to slip a spare one into the breech. But it 

 would not go. For the moment I could not think what 

 had happened. Then I saw a small round object in the 

 breech, and perceived that the base of the exploded 

 cartridge had apparently been blown off when the shot 

 was fired, and that the shell of that cartridee was still 

 in the breech. It was evident that the rifle was for the 

 time useless, and though I poked at the piece in the 

 breech and endeavoured to get it out, it would not move 

 till the animals were out of sight, and then it fell out of 

 its own accord. Thus was a first-rate chance of a shot 

 lost. I ought at the distance I was, and considering 

 the slowness with which the sheep had to move over that 

 awful ground, to have bagged the two good ones. But 

 for my being so pumped I ought to have got one with 



