SPORT AND TRAVEL 237 



and putting up the two hundred yards' sight fired 

 down straight at his chest, which was, however, cov- 

 ered to a considerable extent by his head and face. 

 This bullet, as we afterwards found, struck him on 

 the lower lip, just below the teeth, broke his jaw, and 

 went on into his chest, where it just penetrated 

 through the skin. He at once struggled to his feet, 

 and with a plunge got amongst the timber. 



Coming down to where he had been lying, we 

 found blood at once, and following it soon saw the 

 wounded beast standing amongst the pine-trees utterly 

 exhausted. A bullet through the lungs put an end 

 to his troubles. He was a fine big bull, with a pretty, 

 medium-sized head of twelve points. The bone of 

 his left fore leg was broken about six inches above 

 the knee joint. At first I thought the injury must 

 have been caused by a bullet, but a careful examina- 

 tion assured me that this was not the case, as there 

 was no sign of a bullet-hole in the skin. Then I cut 

 the injured leg open, and found that the break had 

 every appearance of being quite fresh, as there was 

 no swelling or inflammation, and only a little freshly 

 extravasated blood. 



How this stag got his leg broken is a mystery to 

 me, Graham's suggestion that he had been knocked 

 over a cliff by another stag not seeming to me at all 

 probable, as the rutting season was now over. After 

 the difficulty we experienced in overtaking this three- 

 legged wapiti, I ceased to wonder at our non-success 



