OF SHOOTING AND FISHING 151 
the side of the ridge remote from the game. It 
was very hard work, and the light was getting dim 
when I reached the place opposite where the herd 
had been, so creeping up on to the shoulder, and 
behind a tree about a foot high, I looked over. The 
view was magnificent—the black valley below, the 
white dot-like tents, and the wild rocky precipices 
on the mountain side, one above the other, with 
shale-covered ledges between them. Immediately 
above me, there was a final precipice and at its base 
a stony slope twenty yards or so wide. On this 
and away around the amphitheatre, I saw the goats 
lying down. ‘They were probably six or seven hun- 
dred yards off, and without glasses, indistinctly seen 
in the failing light. Half way around there was a 
solitary animal—it was moving about amongst big 
rocks and I decided to try this as soon as I could 
breathe easily. Nothing could be more awkward 
than taking a rifle shot while lying on a very steep 
slope covered with slippery buffalo grass. A yield- 
ing scrub pine gave no feeling of security, but was 
the only thing I could put my foot against. I could 
not tell where the first bullet hit, but the report 
echoed around the eliffs so that the goat stood still, 
probably confused. The second bullet hit the shale 
beyond and caused my quarry to come towards me 
at a trot. Had I waited, it would have, no doubt, 
passed between me and the cliff, as probably the 
only way to the top was around this shoulder, but 
every time it appeared from behind a rock, I fired, 
and after four or five shots it tumbled and rolled 
over the cliff below. 
