HUNTING IN THE ANDES. 47 



me, and, looking up, I saw a herd of fifteen or more 

 cattle tearing along the mountainside till they dis- 

 appeared down a gully. This herd must have fed right 

 up to windward of me, and among them probably the 

 two big bulls, for, from an examination of the tracks, I 

 found these two had branched off the main game-trail 

 and joined the herd, of whose presence I remained 

 ignorant until too late. At one time the whole herd, 

 with the bulls, in travelling upwards, had passed within 

 a hundred paces of my hiding-place, and only the pre- 

 sence of the small bull had stood between me and the 

 best of chances. However, I was destined to kill a 

 good bull from that same herd a few days later, when I 

 once more got within range of them, and this time 

 secured a large red bull, the only one at which I could 

 get a clear shot. 



On the whole the luck which is said to sway " to-day 

 with the hunter, to-morrow with the hunted," kept well 

 on the opposite side during all the time that I hunted wild 

 cattle, for although I had not the chagrin of actually 

 missing any animal I shot at, yet several times when I 

 had climbed and crawled within range of the outlying 

 members of a herd these turned out to be cows or 

 small animals not worth shooting. If I had been given 

 even an ordinary degree of luck I ought to have 

 obtained at least half-a-dozen magnificent bulls. As it 

 was I had to be content with two good ones, but my 

 chief regret lies in the fact that it is unlikely I shall ever 

 have the chance of a return match with them, for the 

 sport is nothing less than first class, and the vigorous 

 days spent on the mountains possess a charm that makes 

 one long to experience it again. When hunting wild 

 cattle in this neighbourhood, I saw a number of guemal r 



