394 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



of him; he stepped out exposing his shoulder to me. 

 I said to myself, ' I have got you, old man,' and 

 took a careful aim; bang! went the Winchester, away 

 went the stag up the side of the mountain. I shot 

 three hundred feet too high and ruined a top of a big 

 pine; it did not take me long to get the old Win- 

 chester leveled once more. I shut my eyes, pulled 

 and jerked until it went off; good shot, just back of 

 the shoulder, but a downright fluke. The stag gave 

 one bound and then came end over end down the 

 mountain for more than two hundred yards, a grand 

 sight for a hunter. All was still for more than half 

 an hour, when bang! went the guns all along the line 

 above me, and down the mountain came a fine buck 

 chamois. He stopped two hundred yards; bang! went 

 my gun, but still he came on; bang! bang! went the 

 Winchester, but still he came on until he was within 

 fifty yards. I still kept shooting; seven shots had 

 missed. He tried to run along on the side of the moun- 

 tains; this was the last chance, and I stood up and 

 fired. Now or never; hit, by Jove ! He clung to the 

 side of the mountain for one minute, then rolled down 

 to the bottom. He, my first chamois, was killed. 

 Hurrah for Carver ! We did not have long to wait 

 until down the mountain came another; bang! went 

 the old gun. Hit, but where? Through the haunch, 

 by that great Yankee too. One stag and two chamois, 

 when down came another. I turned my battery loose 

 as soon as he hove in sight, and the chamois was so 

 frightened that he ran within ten feet of where I was 

 sitting. I still pumped away at him. He never 

 stopped, although we could see four holes in him, he 

 came so near. He followed a little path for a short 

 distance, and quietly laid down and ' passed in his 



