BUCK FEVER. 37 



c'luiiidinf^ mc that we should bo too late for our game if 



wc 



did not hurry up. As we resumed our ascent, we soon 

 l)ccame aware of the presence of a gooral, by a succession of 

 sliort, sharp, sneezing sort of sounds which we heard above. 

 The animal had been watching us whilst I had been viewing 

 the scenery. We caught only a glimpse of it ere it vanished 

 among the wooded crags. A gooral, when alarmed, almost 

 invariably emits this sound, which is something like that 

 made by pronouncing the word " tschick." If in doubt as 

 to what the danger may be, it will often perch itself on 

 s(jme prominent point, and remain there for a considerable 

 lime with its head turned to the suspected quarter, hissing 

 out its note of al^irm at short intervals. But when once 

 fairly satisfied of its danger, you may bid good-bye to it. I 

 do not think the sense of smell is so acute in the gooral, 

 nor in any Himalayan animals of the wild -goat family, 

 as it is in those of the deer tribe : this is, however, in a 

 great measure compensated for by keen powers of sight 

 and hearing. 



But we have now reached the crest, and here we call a 

 short halt for breath before examining the open precipitous 

 ground on the south side of the mountain, where the shi- 

 karee says we shall be pretty sure to find our game. We are 

 soon on the move again. As we near the brink of the decliv- 

 ity, Baloo Mar creeps stealthily forward and cautiously looks 

 over it. By the careful manner in which he slowly with- 

 draws his head, and the self-satisfied look he turns towards 

 me, I can tell he has sighted something. Crawling quickly 

 up alongside him, on peering over I have the satisfaction of 

 seeing four gooral browsing unconcernedly on a grassy slope 

 among some broken masses of rock directly below us. Being 

 a tyro at mountain shooting, I am suddenly seized with a 

 severe attack of what, in the backwoods of America, I have 

 heard termed " buck fever " ; so without taking time to 

 judge the distance, or to allow my fast-throbbing pulses to 

 subside, I raise the rifie and let drive at tlie nearest animal. 



