;c HE'S NOT DONE YET ' 103 



We did not have to wait long, as they got up almost 

 at once, and the best presented an easy shot and I 

 knocked him over all right; he lay on his back 

 for quite a minute with his legs in the air, and we 

 made sure he was all right, and then, suddenly, 

 he struggled up and stood with his hind-quarters 

 drooping as though I had hit him far back and his 

 spine was injured. I thought it better to give 

 him another shot, which Boa thought hit him 

 but I thought missed. Anyway, he moved off 

 and was out of sight in a second, as he was on a 

 small plateau with a very steep descent just 

 behind him. Boa and I dashed to where he had 

 disappeared, and in a few seconds we caught sight 

 of his horns a good bit below us and about 200 

 yards away. Boa exclaimed, " He's not done yet !" 

 and so it proved, for when we got down to where 

 we had last seen the horns no trace of him could 

 be found. We hunted backwards and forwards, 

 and as we were near the top and it was very steep 

 we could see a great deal of the corrie. At last, 

 as we were being drawn farther and farther away 

 from the ponies, and lower and lower, involving 

 another terrific climb to regain the ridge and 

 descend on the other side to the ponies, I said we 

 must give it up; Boa said he would descend a bit 

 as the stag might be lying dead in one of the 

 numerous little hollows which we could not see, 

 and that he would rejoin me on the ridge ten 

 minutes after I got there. So I turned to retrace 



15 



