A HUNTER'S CAMP-FIRES 



shot at long-range had first struck the rocks, and following its 

 downward course — which was marked by dislodged stones, 

 blood, and tufts of coarse white hair — eventually discovered it 

 lying down on a steep rock-slide several hundred yards below 

 on the mountain-side. When I approached this animal, which 

 I noticed was stretched out at full length with its head hidden 

 between its fore-legs and was still breathing, I rested the butt 

 of the rifle on its back and reached for my hunting-knife. The 

 next moment an equally surprised goat and hunter were staring 

 at each other only a few feet apart, while yells of encouragement 

 drifted down from where Dell w^as clinging to a ledge and hoping 

 for a combat. The goat, which had been shot through the 

 lungs, was first to recover from its surprise and struggled down 

 the slide, being raked by a bullet as it disappeared from sight 

 over the ledge below. Scrambling down in its wake, I discov- 

 ered the animal painfully dragging itself around a bend in the 

 cliffs one hundred and fifty yards distant. At the crack of the 

 rifle the crippled goat now plunged into space. Listening for a 

 few moments, I heard a faint crash below, indicating that it had 

 struck in the top of a spruce. When I descended I found the 

 remains of this much battered animal lodged against a tree- 

 trunk far down the slope, and immediately started to cut off 

 the head. In a few moments I was joined by Dell, still chuck- 

 ling over the encounter with this goat. 



We spent* the remainder of the afternoon in locating and 

 skinning our victims. We could find no trace whatever of the 

 largest billy, and had given up the search, when I discovered it 

 lodged in a clump of small trees growing horizontally from a 

 cleft in the rocks a few yards below the ledge over which it had 

 rolled in its death-struggles. We had great difficulty in skinning 

 this beast, as to have allowed it to fall w^ould certainly have 

 broken the horns on the rocks a hundred yards beneath where 

 we were working. The horns of this largest billy, which was an 

 animal of remarkable size, measured respectively : right — length 



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