130 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



stuffed : we'll run down the brae, get that bit hill be- 

 tween him and us, and we'll have him in ten minutes." 



Down the brae we went, and soon got to the 

 bottom of the hill : it was only a mound, not twenty 

 yards high, on the other side of which " Billy " was 

 feeding. This old gentleman, like most of his genus, 

 was of a suspicious character; and just as I was 

 crawling up one side of the mound, he was walking 

 up the other to have a look at the adjacent country, 

 and see that all was safe. AVe met face to face on 

 the top, not six yards from one another. 



" Shoot him, sir," cried Duncan. 



"Not exactly," I said to myself. At that distance 

 I should have blown his head off, or more probably 

 have missed him altogether. No; I let him run 

 down the hill, and as he was making off at his best 

 pace it wasn't very fast, poor old beggar ! I bowled 

 him over with a shot in the ribs. Duncan was quite 

 delighted, but a little shy of going near him. 



" I never cleaned a beast like that in my life, sir," 

 he said. " I suppose he's just like other beasts." 



" You'll find him constructed much on the same 

 principles," I replied, seating myself on the wind- 

 ward side at a respectful distance ("quite the same, 

 but with a material difference, as you'll find out pre- 

 sently," I thought) ; " get to work, and we'll be off." 



At the first insertion of the knife Duncan drew 

 back, and shook his head. That goat made him 

 sneeze ; but although he had to leave off half-a-dozen 



