IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 139 



rather in front, and was circling round the valley 

 towards rne. Presently I heard his piece to my 

 left front. At the sound a single bird rose to 

 my right and swept past rae, only to fall with 

 a plump among the rocks, and almost on the 

 back of a fine fox, whom I had not before noticed, 

 and who was coming right towards me. He was 

 out of sight in an instant among the stones, or 

 I should have given him the contents of the 

 other barrel. The dachshunds dashed forward, 

 and while the red dog retrieved my bird, old 

 " Waldmann " took up the line of the fox at once, 

 and ran him full cry nearly down to the marshes 

 and back again, till, just as we began to hope 

 for a shot, he got to ground. As I had guessed, 

 it was Jusic who had disturbed Keynard and 

 given him a barrel, but, according to his own 

 statement, he was too far away. 



We had now got to the top of the hill, and 

 as it was nearly as high as any ground about, 

 we made a cache of our lunch and the birds we 

 had killed so far, and went on towards the 

 frontier. It was a long time before we did 

 anything, for we had failed to find the covey 

 I had heard. At last, working along a rocky 

 ridge a mile further, I heard stone-hens calling, 

 and signalled to the Morlak. We hurried on * 



* I do not conceal my beginner's mistakes. Hurry is the 

 one thing fatal in stone-hen shooting — as, indeed, it is in all 

 shooting. 



