164 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



mine ; and as the chamois was far off, — a hundred and 

 eighty yards for certain, I in this case preferred his to 

 my own. 



" Does it shoot high ?" I asked, sitting down and rest- 

 ing my left elbow on my knee to take a steadier aim. 



"No, where you aim there the bullet strikes; but 

 hold it a little forward, for the wind is now coming up 

 from below." 



ft As I have it now, the ball would graze his breast," 

 I said, about to fire. 



" That's right : you will hit him in the middle of the 

 shoulder." 



Bang ! went the rifle. " He has got the ball for 

 certain, no shot could go off better." 



" You have not touched him," said Xavier, who had 

 been watching the result through his glass : " the ball 

 passed just before his shoulder : I saw it strike the bank 

 behind him." 



" Confound it, that's the effect of allowing for the 

 wind ! But for that I must have hit in the best place. 

 Nothing on earth can fire truer than your rifle." 



" Yes, I know it ; but being so far, and as the wind 

 is coming up from the valley, I thought it safer to make 

 an allowance for the draught." 



There was no use in being irritated ; besides Xavier 

 was so good-tempered and willing a fellow, that it would 

 have been difficult for me to have continued angry long, 

 had I been inclined. We. kept along the ridge until 

 we came to a descent : here we sat down to reconnoitre, 

 and with our glasses examined the ground below. We 

 soon espied a buck, as usual alone : he kept on the move 

 for some time, always holding a downward course, and 

 at last, to our great joy, lay down among some scattered 

 latschen. 



