The mounted guards gave chase, overhauled the men, and demanded their surrender. The reply was prompt—a couple of shots: meeting the simultaneous fire of the guards. No sooner, however, had the latter fired than Salado fell dead from his horse, for Agua-Dulce's bullet had gone true. Sanchez leaped from his saddle and, seeing that one robber was done for, went for the other, whom he now recognized as Agua-Dulce. A hand-to-hand struggle was imminent, but the bandit availed himself of the thick lentisk-covert, and contrived to put some distance between himself and his assailant. Both knew it was a duel to the death. Second shots were exchanged, and this time Agua-Dulce was wounded. Sanchez again called on him to surrender, but again the reply was a bullet, which narrowly missed a vital spot. A second ball now struck the robber in the side, bringing him to the ground. While Sanchez reloaded, the wounded desperado managed again to rise to his feet and drew a pistol from his belt: but he was just not quick enough, and ere he could aim, a bullet from Sanchez's barrel had perforated him from chest to shoulder.
CHAPTER XI.
THE SPANISH IBEX.
NOTES ON ITS NATURAL HISTORY, HAUNTS, HABITS, AND DISTRIBUTION.
The ibex, or wild goat, has a wide range throughout the Alpine regions of the old world: and wherever it is found, from Spain to the Himalayas, takes a chief place amongst the beasts of chase. Few pictures, indeed, does the animal-world present more perfect than an old ibex-ram,[27] with his thick-set, game-like form, his hoary coat and flowing beard, and those massive, widely-curving horns—no trophy more dear to the big-game sportsman, and few so hard to secure.
The Spanish Peninsula can boast an ibex peculiar to itself, a noble beast not to be found elsewhere than on Iberian soil. Till recently, we shared the opinion that two forms of ibex existed in Spain—the Pyrenean type, and the slightly divergent Capra hispanica of the southern sierras: but further experience and a comparison of heads from various points, have convinced us that (except in the matter of size) there is no material difference between the Spanish races of wild goats. No difference, that is, greater than might naturally be looked for as between isolated colonies, separated one from another during centuries—for the ibex of Nevada or of Gredos is as effectually divided from his kind in the Pyrenees as though wide oceans rolled between.
Differences in habits, haunts, and food are well known to produce, during extended periods, corresponding differences in form: but so far as we are able to judge, the only material variation between the so-called Capra pyrenaica, of the north, and the C. hispanica, of Southern and Central Spain, is that of size. The Pyrenean ibex is a larger animal: but the horns are almost, though not quite, identical in form with those from the Sierra Nevada[28]: while both differ most materially from the well-known horns of the typical ibex, the Capra ibex of the Alps and of Central Europe.
These differences will be seen at a glance in the photographs and rough sketches we annex. Briefly, the horns of the true ibex bend regularly backwards and downwards in a more or less uniform, scimitar-like curve: while those of all Spanish goats, after first diverging laterally, become re-curved both inwards and finally upwards. That is, while in the one case the horns present a simple circular bend, in the Spanish ibex they form almost a spiral.[29]
A minor point of difference consists in the form of the annular notches, or rings. These in the Alpine ibex run more or less straight around, encircling the horn in front roughly like steps in a ladder: while in Capra hispanica they run obliquely in a spiral ascent. These annulations indicate the age of the animal—one notch to each year: but the count must stop where the spiral ends. Beyond that, there is always the lightly-grooved tip which does not alter.