34 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



surroundings, which I could not but compare unfa- 

 vourably with the well-watered hunting-grounds of 

 Eastern Rhodesia, which I had but so lately left. At 

 last, about midday, we saw four female wild goats in a 

 ravine below us ; and despairing of seeing any rams, 

 and in the hope of securing fresh meat, I decided to 

 try a shot at one standing on a rock almost perpen- 

 dicularly below me. She was about one hundred and 

 fifty yards distant, and standing perfectly still ; but I 

 missed her clean, the bullet striking with a loud 

 smack the rock on which she was standing. She 

 evidently did not know where the shot came from, for 

 instead of bolting downhill, as these wild goats usually 

 seem to do, a course which in this case would have 

 meant safety, she came clambering up towards me ; 

 so hastily slipping another cartridge into my rifle, I 

 got a second chance at her as she passed at about 

 eighty yards' distance. She showed no signs of being 

 hit, but rushing through a patch of bush disappeared 

 behind a rock. This point I soon reached, and at 

 once saw such a heavy blood-trail stretching across 

 the rocks in front of me, that I thought my bullet 

 must have cut the animal's throat, and expected to find 

 it lying dead within a very short distance. However, 

 in spite of the great loss of blood, this sturdy little 

 animal led us a long chase, and eventually evaded us, 

 though I fear it could never have recovered from the 

 serious wound it must have received. We had fol- 

 lowed it for some distance over some very rough 



