WAPITI, ROEBUCK, AND GORAL 233 



peared on the rim of the ravine we saw five roe deer 

 move in the bushes where they had been asleep. Four 

 of them broke back through the line of beaters, but 

 one fine buck came straight toward us. He ran up the 

 slope and crossed a rock-saddle almost beneath me, but 

 I did not fire until he was well away on the opposite 

 hillside ; then he plunged forward in his tracks, dead. 



Without moving from our position we sent the men 

 over the crest of the mountain to drive the ravines on 

 the other side. The old Mongol and I stretched out 

 upon the rock and smoked for half an hour, while I 

 tried to tell him in my best Chinese which is very bad 

 the story of a bear hunt in Alaska. I had just killed 

 the bear, in my narrative, when we saw five roebuck 

 appear on the sky line. They trotted straight toward 

 Harry, and in a moment we heard two shots in quick 

 succession. I knew that meant at least one more deer. 



Five minutes later we made out a roebuck rounding 

 the base of the spur on which we sat. It seemed no 

 larger than a brown rabbit at that distance, but the 

 animal was running directly up the bottom of the ra- 

 vine which we commanded. It was a buck carrying 

 splendid antlers and we watched him come steadily on 

 until he was almost below us. 



Na-mon-gin whispered, "Don't shoot until he stops"; 

 but it seemed that the animal would cross the ridge 

 without a pause. He was almost at the summit when 

 he halted for an instant, facing directly away from 

 us. I fired, and the buck leaped backward shot through 

 the neck. 



