104 THE THIBETAN GAZELLE. 



the fresh impression of a tiny hoof caught my eye. There was no doubt as to what animal it 

 was made by : it could only be a Goa, which probably used this path when going to drink at 

 the river by which I was encamped. A short distance farther on I caught sight of the head of 

 a buck Goa just showing over a rounded swell. He was evidently suspicious, and gazing in 

 our direction. Signalling to my attendants to lie down and keep still, I crept carefully 

 towards the Goa, and presently saw him facing me and still steadfastly gazing, at a distance 

 of about a hundred and twenty yards. 



I had a military short Snider rifle, the coarse sights of which were not well adapted for 

 such a small mark as is afforded by the chest and neck of a Gazelle ; however I fired steadily. 

 The bullet struck low, but the buck remained motionless. I slipped in a fresh cartridge and 

 tried again : this time my shot went an inch or two to the left, but still the Goa never moved. 



A third cartridge missed fire, but on trying once more I was at length successful, the 

 bullet striking fair in the centre of the buck's breast, and dropping it dead on the spot. 



All this, though it takes time to narrate, was the work of a few seconds, and the Goa had 

 not time to recover from the surprise of the first shot, which it probably mistook for a clap 

 of thunder. 



After ' gralloching ' the Goa we covered it up with stones, to preserve it from eagles, 

 ravens, &c, until our return, and proceeded in the direction of the drinking place before 

 referred to. On arriving there, however, I was disgusted at finding the spring dried up : there 

 had been but little snow the previous winter, and so the fountain had been deprived of its 

 usual source of supply. I saw one Goa, but he was very wild, and I could not get within a 

 fair range. Going a little farther, I crossed a valley and ascended the opposite side to a 

 wide level plateau strewn with huge blocks of stone, which lay about in all directions. Sit- 

 ting down among a group of these stones, I proceeded to discuss my luncheon, but had not 

 sat very long before I observed four buck Goa which came up from the valley on the opposite 

 side of the plateau. After looking about them for a short time, two of them began to feed 

 towards me, while the other two moved off in another direction. Placing two or three car- 

 tridges on the ground by my side, I remained perfectly motionless, while the Goa came nearer 

 and nearer. At last they passed within about a hundred yards, when I fired at the second one, 

 which had the finer horns of the two. I heard the bullet strike, and though the Goa did not 

 actually fall, he staggered, and stood still in that peculiar helpless posture which the experi- 

 enced eye at once recognizes as indicative of a mortal wound. Seeing that he was as good as 

 bagged, I fired at the other buck, broke his leg, and again reloading finished him with my 

 third shot. The first one had in the meantime fallen, and I was walking up to the slain 

 when my attention was directed to another Goa which had come up to see what was going 

 on and was standing within shot. I fired at it but missed it, and it did not give me a second 

 chance. I ought certainly to have made up the bag to four, however I was very well satisfied 

 with having shot three buck, all with good horns. 



After finishing our luncheon and enjoying a rest of an hour or two, we setoff in the 

 direction of camp, which had fortunately been ordered to be moved to our side of the grassy 

 plain, thus shortening our return journey about a couple of miles. 



