76 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



move, as I had come to the conclusion which I 

 think was correct that the two Turkish sportsmen 

 were simply hunting, like ourselves, without beaters, 

 when we both heard some stones move on the hillside 

 above us, which was thickly covered with brushwood. 

 The next instant I saw that Mustapha, from whom I 

 was some yards distant, had seen something, and on 

 creeping cautiously to his side and looking eagerly 

 towards where he was pointing, I at once made out 

 what I knew was a portion of a wild goat standing 

 amongst the bushes some one hundred and fifty yards 

 away; but what part of it, or how the animal was head- 

 ing, was more than I could determine. Nor had I 

 much time for investigation, for the next moment 

 a big old billy-goat bounded forwards through the 

 scrub, closely followed by a second. As they passed 

 through the brushwood I only got momentary glimpses 

 of them, but soon they emerged upon an open sheet 

 of rock ; and as they rushed across it, broadside on, 

 and at a distance of about two hundred yards, I had a 

 very good view of them. I did not fire, for the reason 

 that I thought they were going to cross a deep gully 

 just in front of them, and judged that, even if they did 

 not stand after crossing it, I should have had a better 

 chance of hitting one as he climbed up the farther 

 side, even though the range would have been some- 

 what longer, than I should have done had I fired when 

 they were bounding down the rocky slope at their 

 utmost speed. But, the first chance missed, they 



