394 A SOLITARY OLD BUCK. 



above the rocky linn, where, by dint of clearing off big stones 

 and scraping away earth, we managed to get just sufficient 

 space for sticking up my little tent, after a fashion, against the 

 face of a high beetling crag, my followers finding the best 

 shelter they could in holes and crannies among the rocks. 



In the afternoon, as I sat scanning the steep ground across 

 the torrent, I could see several young bucks and some tehrny 

 on the crags. At last I detected a solitary old tahr almost 

 hidden among some birch bushes growing on a sloping ledge, 

 where he was browsing on the young leaves. In the distance 

 his shaggy coat looked quite black as I caught occasional 

 glimpses of him through the spy -glass. After planning our 

 stalk, I started with Puddoo and Ganna to try and circum- 

 vent him. With considerable difficulty we clambered down 

 to the torrent, where it was spanned by a bed of hard snow, 

 and thence climbed up through a steep wood of tall black 

 pines until we were nearly level with the tahr. He was still 

 browsing among the birch bushes, at what I judged to be 

 about 150 yards distant across a precipitous rocky gully. 

 After recovering my wind I rested the rifle against a pine- 

 tree, took a steady aim, and let drive. "He's hit!" exclaimed 

 Puddoo, as the beast seemed to shoot headlong into the gully 

 and out of sight. I was congratulating myself on having, as 

 I thought, secured so fine a specimen, when Puddoo excitedly 

 whispered, " Look ! there he is again," as, to my great sur- 

 prise, the tahr suddenly reappeared on our side of the gully. 

 As he stopped short to listen and look about him among some 

 fallen pine-trunks within easy range directly below us, I again 

 took a careful shot over a prostrate tree, which offered a con- 

 venient rest. " You've surely got him this time ! " said Pud- 

 doo, as the animal seemed to fall over backwards among the 

 fallen trees. After reloading the rifle, we moved down in con- 

 fident expectation of finding him lying dead ; but nothing was 

 there but the marks ploughed up by his hoofs, where he had 

 evidently galloped headlong down hill. "We followed the 



