MY FIEST CHAMOIS 101 



the dog, who had got loose, joined me. Keeping him 

 in to heel, I went a little farther, and all at once I 

 saw the herd on the big snow-field below me. Draw- 

 ing back, I fastened the dog to my alpenstock with 

 the sling of my gun, and wormed myself out on to 

 the flat projecting rock. Yes, there they were, but 

 only six of them, mostly lying on the snow, and all 

 unsuspicious of my presence. They were, however, 

 too far for my weapon, say three hundred yards off. 

 But below me was another rock-ledge which must be 

 a good deal nearer. I crawled back to the dog, and 

 retired cautiously a hundred yards or so. There I 

 left my gun, and started back, for the second time 

 that day, for my rucksack. When I had got it I re- 

 turned ; and this time I was careful to tie the dog w^ell. 

 I had not lono^ be^un the crawl downwards, when 

 I heard some stones rattle in front of me, and con- 

 cluded the herd were coming back. Here again my 

 geography was at fault ; not even a chamois could 

 come up there, and the stone was probably dislodged 

 by the snow. After sitting expectant a quarter of 

 an hour, I decided to advance again ; and, to make 

 a long story short, after a lot of hands-and-knees 

 work, and a bad fright at a stone which looked just 

 like a chamois staring at me, I reached the spot 

 whence they should have been in view. Gone ! I 

 was not much frightened, though, for the broad snow- 

 field to my right and front was spread out like a map 

 before me. I continued the crawl, and presently 

 picked them up. They had gone deeper, and were 

 consequently nearer me. 



Now I am on the very verge of the cliff. Two are 

 coming towards me, but they look small. The third 

 one from me is bigger and darker — in fact, the biggest 



