102 A Sportsman at Large 



first one and then the other appearing to hold an 

 advantage. 



All of a sudden the goat, realizing that he was up against 

 a stiffer proposition than he had bargained for, threw up the 

 sponge, and " beat it " for all he was worth, closely pursued 

 by the blood-thirsty bull terrier, who, however, was sternly 

 called off. 



After William, attended by his faithful spouses, had retreated 

 some five hundred yards, he mounted the pinnacle of an adjoin- 

 ing hillock and bleated defiance at his treacherous enemies. 

 It was then that Ted effected his self-belauded stalk. By a 

 circuitous route he managed to get within a hundred yards or 

 so of the braggart. (He dared not approach closer, for fear 

 of a repetition of the creature's vigorous offensive.) Then, 

 taking up a prone position, he drew a bead just behind the 

 ill-fated goat's shoulder and let drive. Billy leaped into the 

 air, and then rolling over and over, lay still at the base of the 

 hill. 



" Sic transit gloria Capricorni." 



But the spirit of him supposing that such animals can 

 claim survival of soul after death remained to afflict not 

 only his destroyer, but all who came in touch with the grim 

 trophy which Ted had had set up by Rowland Ward, who, in 

 returning it most artistically mounted politely but firmly 

 requested my cousin not to send any more heads of the same 

 species, as in such case he would be likely to lose the services 

 of his most skilled assistant taxidermists. 



Previous to this, we of the Burrishoole contingent had pro- 

 tested loudly against the dreadful infliction on our olfactory 

 organs. 



The seal had tried us severely, but its odour was as that of 

 attar of roses, when compared with the effluvium disseminated 

 by that grizzly goat's head. I have had a slight dose of chlorine 

 gas and survived it ; but if the Huns, during the Great War, 

 had been able to evolve an extract, such as that which caused 

 us such nasal affliction, I am convinced that the question as 

 to which side really won the war, would have been set at rest 

 once and for all and not in our favour ! 



Ted tried it on his domestic circle when he reached home, 



