186 A WASTED SHOT. 



on without a sign of being hit. . But another big fellow has 

 reached the same spot. Quickly Gamoo hands me the other 

 rifle, and ere the animal has time to recover from his as- 

 tonishment, a bullet smashes through his shoulders, his fore- 

 legs slip from under him, and he rolls headlong down the 

 gully in our front and disappears. The third big buck now 

 takes his place, for there is only one way by which they can 

 pass us, and I am just about to fire when Gamoo directs my 

 attention towards the first, which has pulled up, and offers 

 a fair chance. Supposing him untouched, I empty the re- 

 maining barrel at him. He moves on a short way, stops 

 again, totters for a few seconds, and falls struggling down 

 into a cleft between a steep face of rock and a sloping bank 

 of hard snow just below him. Both rifles being now empty, 

 the remaining big buck gets off scot-free, and vanishes with 

 his smaller companions long ere I can reload. 



Numerous and loud are the expressions of delight indulged 

 in by the shikarees at our good luck. But a shadow of doubt 

 arises in their minds as to whether they will be able to reach 

 the beasts in time to bleed them before life is extinct, as, 

 being good Mohammedans, without this ceremony being duly 

 performed the meat will be useless to them. Hatha and 

 Sultana — our spare man — at once start off down the gully 

 to look after the second buck, whilst Gamoo and I with 

 some difficulty clamber after the first. We find him still 

 alive, but he has fallen so far into the cleft that we have 

 considerable trouble in getting at him to give him the coup 

 de grdce. 



On examining the carcass, I found that my first shot must 

 have inflicted a mortal wound. Had I known this 1 might 

 in all probability have killed the third big fellow with the 

 bullet I had wasted in firing a second shot at the first ; for 

 unless some large bone is broken, markhor, like ibex, when 

 shot at, and even if mortally wounded, very often move off 

 without increasing their pace from a walk. However, I had 

 little cause to grumble at my luck. 



