226 



already. For what chance had he now, unless he 

 contested the path whereon I played Horatius ? There 

 was no escape else that I could see. Beyond him a 

 row of upright spurs stood sentinel. Below my 

 cornered prize yawned a crevasse, below again shale- 

 like terraced plateaus, which made feeding ground for 

 many sheep, then the glacier country. 



I carefully got up my rifle. The slightest mistake 

 now and I should pay a heavy price. A whisper to 

 Cecily, and she braced herself against the cliff, press- 

 ing me with her as tightly as she could. I levered 

 myself carefully against the spur, saw my quarry in 

 one dazzling moment square on, a chance which 

 would have delighted the heart of the veriest amateur, 

 sighted for the shoulder, and pressed the trigger, 

 instantly seizing with a now tremulous hand a piece 

 of rock which seemed to speak of safety. My ram, 

 oh, where was he? He took a header into space, 

 alighted again, bowled over and over, and then in an 

 avalanche of dislodged stones fell smack over the 

 crevasse. 



We all got ourselves round the point of the danger- 

 ously jutting cliff, in such a fever of excited interest 

 that the difficulties and awkwardnesses of the trip did 

 not worry us in the least. To have hit the splendid 

 ram, and to have lost him ! 



"Look!" from the hunter, who was lying down, 

 flat on his face, peering over the edge of the crevasse. 

 I crept alongside him. Ah, there I My ram I A 

 crumpled mass, pinned behind a boulder. 



Then began a discussion as to how to retrieve him. 



