They made their way round among the brushwood until they were close to the spot.
"Shall I shoot him ?" Nessus asked, for he had carried his bow and arrows concealed in his attire as a Roman soldier.
"No, no," Malchus replied, "the lad has done us no harm; but we must have one of his goats.

His back is towards us, and, if we wait, one of them is sure to come close to us presently." They lay quiet among the bushes until, after a delay of a quarter of an hour, a goat, browsing upon the bushes, passed within a yard or two of them.
Nessus let fly his arrow, it passed almost through the animal, right behind its shoulder, and it fell among the bushes.

In an instant Nessus was upon it, and, grasping its mouth tightly to prevent it from bleating, cut its throat.

They dragged it away until a fall in the ground hid them from the sight of the natives, then they quickly skinned and cut it up, devoured some of the meat raw, and then, each taking a leg of the animal, proceeded upon their way.
They now walked without a halt until, late in the evening, they came down upon the spot where the Carthaginian army had crossed.

It was deserted.