The bitch had pulled up on the very brink of
the precipice, but it was a narrow escape.
Sportsmen are contradictory creatures. If that buck had come to
bay, I should have known no better sport than going in at him
with the knife to the assistance of the pack; but I now felt a
great amount of compassion for the poor brute who had met so
terrible a fate. It did not seem fair; and yet I would not have
missed such a sight for anything. Nothing can be conceived more
terribly grand than the rush of so large an animal through the
air; and it was a curious circumstance that within a few days no
less than two bucks had gone over precipices, although I had
never witnessed one such an accident more than once before.
Upon reaching the fatal spot, I, of course, found him lying stone
dead. He had fallen at least two hundred and fifty feet to the
base of the precipice; and the ground being covered with detached
fragments of rock, he had broken most of his bones, beside
bursting his paunch and smashing in the face. However, we cut
him up and cleaned him, and, with the native followers heavily
laden, we reached the tent.
The following morning I killed another fine buck after a good run
on the patinas, where he was coursed and pulled down by the
greyhounds; but the wind was so very high that it destroyed the
pleasure of hunting.
