X Chamois- Hunting 509 



the snow, and is examining so carefully? No 

 matter ; 'twas not what we sought, but it was 

 something closely connected with it. Yes, there is 

 no doubt of it ; they have been here, and lately 

 too ! See the sharp hoof- prints just above ; they 

 must have crossed this morning ! Go it, ye cripples 

 {in prospectu) ; we must cross this, come what may ! 



We got along steadily, without any slides, though 

 with many slips, always sticking our staves convul- 

 sively into the snow the moment our heels seemed 

 to have the slightest disposition to assume the 

 altitude of our heads. It was nervous work ; one 

 slip, one moment too late in thrusting our staff 

 perpendicularly in the snow, as an anchor, and 

 away we should have shot like a meteor over the 

 glittering surface for a hundred terrible yards, and 

 then with a wild bound have been launched into 

 the abyss below. However, we could not have 

 turned back if we had wished it ; and at last, to our 

 intense satisfaction, we grasped the rough rock that 

 bounded the farther side of the field. Grasped it ! 

 — we embraced it ! — we clung to its rough surface 

 as if we had been six months at sea, and had landed 

 in the Hesperides ! 



At length, on the summit of the ridge, we were 

 able to crouch down and look through a crack in 

 the rock into the next valley. Round and about, 

 above and below, we examined every hole and 

 corner ; half-a-dozen times some villainous stone 

 made our hearts leap to our mouths. But, alas ! ' it 



