42 MR. PALLISER'S STORY. 



on our way. As we went along I got a shot at an antelope 

 (for which I dismounted expressly) and the animal in- 

 stantly dropped, whereupon I remounted, and, not stopping 

 to load, rode up to the spot, and found him a fine old male 

 with large full-grown horns. Boucharville now came up 

 congratulating me upon my having got such a fine speci- 

 men for my collection, and as I sat quietly upon my horse 

 discussing the length of the shot, he dismounted, and drew 

 his knife, for the purpose of skinning the apparently life- 

 less animal, hut before doing so began to sharpen it upon 

 his steel, which hung at the belt of his hunting-frock ; 

 when, to our amazement, the antelope, after one or 

 two convulsive struggles, jumped up and bounded off safe 

 and sound, turning about when a couple of hundred yards 

 off to look back at us, as if in ridicule, and again darting 

 away bade us a final adieu. As soon as we recovered 

 from our surprise we both burst out laughing. I dis- 

 mounted and loaded, and we went on to the cliffs close 

 by. "We rode for some distance upon the base, but see- 

 ing no sheep crossed the ridge, leading the horses after 

 us up the ascent, and over rocks and places over which 

 the poor animals could hardly scramble, accomplishing 

 this with great difficulty. We had hardly commenced our 

 descent on the other side when Boucharville's quick eye 

 perceived under the cliffs, about three hundred feet below, 

 a doe-elk, feeding in a glade, surrounded with thickets of 



