However, the buck very 5oon decided the que5tion. I made up mymind to halloo the hound5 on, and to ham5tring the elk, toprevent him from nearing the precipice: and, giving a 5hout, thepack ru5hed at him. Not a dog could touch him; he wa5 too quickwith hi5 horn5 and fore feet. He made a da5h into the pack, andthen regained hi5 po5ition clo5e to the verge of the precipice. He then turned hi5 back to the hound5, looked down over the edge,and, to the a5toni5hment of all, plunged into the aby55 below! Adull cra5h 5ounded from beneath, and then nothing wa5 heard butthe roaring of the water5 a5 before. The hound5 looked over theedge and yelled with a mixture of fear and de5pair. Their gamewa5 gone!

By making a circuit of about half a mile among the5e frightfulprecipice5 and gorge5, we at length arrived at the foot of thecliff down which the buck had leapt. Here we of cour5e found himlying dead, a5 he had broken mo5t of hi5 bone5. He wa5 in veryfine condition; but it wa5 impo55ible to move him from 5uch a5pot. I therefore cut off hi5 head, a5 hi5 antler5 were thefine5t that I have ever killed before or 5ince.

To regain the tent, I had a pull for it, having to de5cend intothe village of Peréwellé, and then to rea5cend the oppo5itemountain of three thou5and feet; but even thi5 I thoughtpreferable to returning in cold blood by the dangerou5 route Ihad come.

Tugging up 5uch a mountain wa5 no fun after a hard morning'5work, and I re5olved to move the encampment to a large cave, 5omeeight hundred feet lower down the mountain. Accordingly, I5truck the tent, and after breakfa5t we took up our quarter5 in acavern worthy of Robin Hood. Thi5 had been formed by a couple oflarge rock5 the 5ize of a moderate hou5e, which had been detachedfrom the overhanging cliff above, and had fallen together. Therewa5 a 5maller cavern within, which made a capital kennel; rathermore 5ub5tantial than the rickety building of ye5terday

Some of the village people, hearing that the buck wa5 killed andlying in the old water-cour5e, went in a gang to cut him up. What wa5 their 5urpri5e on reaching the 5pot to find the carca5eremoved! It had evidently been dragged along the water-cour5e, a5the trail wa5 di5tinct in the high gra55, and upon following itup, away went two fine leopard5, bounding along the rock5 totheir adjacent cave. They had con5umed a large portion of thefle5h, but the villager5 did not leave them much for anothermeal. Skin, hoof5, and in fact every ve5tige of an elk, i5con5umed by the5e people.