X Chamois- Huntijig 5 1 9 



Whether she spent the night on our faces, in 

 alternate watches, I know not ; but I had ghastly 

 dreams, and when I woke in the morning, I found 

 my hand and arm thrust forth from the hay, repos- 

 ing on a cool and clean counterpane of snow which 

 had drifted in during the night, as if I had been 

 repelling her advances even in my sleep. 



Feeling very cold and damp, we turned out as 

 soon as we woke, and blowing up the embers 

 of the fire, warmed ourselves as well as we could, 

 and took a peep out into the night. The storm had 

 passed away, leaving everything covered with a veil 

 of snow, that gleamed faintly under the intense 

 black-blue sky. The stars were beginning to assume 

 that peculiar sleepy, twinkling appearance which 

 shows that their night-watch is drawing to a close, 

 and everything lay in still, calm rest around us. 



We breakfasted sparingly, as our provisions were 

 beginning to run short, thanks to the keen mountain- 

 air and our hard work the day before ; and just as 

 the first cold chill of the approaching dawn began to 

 be felt, we left the cabin, shutting up Catchins, and 

 hanging the marmot on a peg out of her reach till 

 our return. 



Our day's route lay more round to the left of the 

 Wildgrad Kogle. The scene was for some time a 

 repetition of that of the day before, but the cliffs 

 were still more precipitous and the ravines narrower 

 and more difficult to traverse. Many a tumble we 

 got for the first hour among the boulders covered 



