A MYSTERIOUS BEAST. 297 



a pretty sure find for old bucks. We were just about to 

 start, wlieii it struck nie that I had better take one more 

 look through the glass towards the birch-bushes on the 

 ledge. This time I noticed through an interstice among 

 the branches a dark patch which I had hitherto not ob- 

 served. After steadily watching it for some time I imagined 

 I saw it move. At last all doubt was dispelled by .the 

 branches above it being shaken to and fro. Directing 

 Puddoo's attention to it, I handed him the telescope. 

 After a long look through it he suddenly ejaculated, "It's 



that again ! " using an expressive but unmentionable 



term of native abuse towards the animal. 



Our proposed arrangement for the day was now upset, 

 for even if this were not the big tahr I had shot at, it was 

 his exact counterpart ; at any rate it was unlikely that a 

 finer would be found elsewhere. This time the whole day 

 was before us, so we resolved to try a stalk from a different 

 direction. Owing to the precipitous nature of the ground, 

 it would necessarily be a very much longer and more diffi- 

 cult business, but would, we thought, bring us much nearer 

 our game. After about two hours' climbing, imagine our 

 disappointment on finding that the animal's position was 

 quite hidden below the spot which, from the other side of 

 the glen, we had supposed would command it within easy 

 range ; and we could discover no other means of approach- 

 ing it, from this side at any rate, without our being seen by 

 the tahr. The only plan we could now devise was to send 

 Ganna to try and steal round beyond the place from above, 

 on the chance that, by flinging down a stone, he might 

 frighten the animal back towards us. But the crafty beast 

 must have decamped in some other direction than ours, for 

 not a sign did we ever see or hear of him. If an evil 

 genius presided over this glen, I now began myself almost 

 to think that it must have been embodied, for the time 

 being, in that black old buck. For not only did he seem 

 to bear a charmed life himself, but he had effectually sue- 



