CH. XXVI. FIND DEER. 101 



of an Alpine torrent, though now it danced merrily 

 along, rippling through the stones, and forming tiny 

 pools here and there, where it had not strength 

 enough to break through the accumulated sand 

 and gravel which dammed up its feeble stream. 

 Dressed in gray, and surrounded with gray stone 

 on every side, I was as little conspicuous as it was 

 possible to be, and there was just enough ripple 

 in the stream and its thousand miniature cascades 

 to drown the sound of my footsteps, whenever I 

 inadvertently put my foot on any stone that grated 

 or slipped below me. The only thing that annoyed 

 me was an occasional sheep that would see me 

 from the bank above, and by running off in a 

 startled manner was likely to warn the deer, if 

 there were any ahead of me, of the vicinity of an 

 enemy. I had continued this course for some 

 distance, when just as I began to propose to 

 myself turning off in order to cross the valley 

 to look over the next height, and had made up 

 my mind that the deer whose recent traces I had 

 seen must have slipped away unobserved, just 

 then, on turning a corner, I caught a momentary 

 glimpse of the hind-quarters of one of the wished- 

 for animals walking slowly round a turn in the 

 burn. I stopped, fearing they had seen or heard me, 

 and I expected to see them leap out of the hollow 



