FOLLOWING THE TRAIL. 543 



heard, and three doe chamois went bounding up 

 the side of the mountain. My rifle was slung on 

 my shoulder at the time, and they were far out of 

 range before I was ready to fire, so we went on 

 towards the spot where the chamois was standing 

 when I fired. There we found loose hair, and the 

 aromatic herbage on which he was feeding was in 

 places wet with deep crimson blood. The bullet, 

 after passing through him, had flattened on a large 

 stone, for the splash of the lead was very plain. 

 We followed up the trail for a fev/ hundred yards, 

 and found him dead, with his fore-quarters half 

 hidden in a clump of latchen, where he had fallen 

 whilst making a last efi'ort to escape. He was not 

 so large as the first I had killed, but had fine 

 horns, and I felt very pleased with my success. 

 Karl having cleaned him, slung the body over his 

 shoulders, and we made the best of our way up to 

 where we had left our ruck-sacks. Slinging the 

 venison on to our alpenstocks, we turned our steps 

 homeward, much surprised at not meeting Herbert 

 or any of his party. When we arrived at the hut, 



