mattli] THE STRANGE CLIFF DWELLERS 283 



that same side to the next shelf sortie fifty feet below, where 

 several mountain pines were, and there I found abundant proof 

 to justify even our worst suspicions. Bones of all kinds were 

 lying pell mell along the edge of the abyss. There were wings 

 of partridges and ptarmigan, tails of cats, legs of rabbits with 

 both skin and flesh on and an inumerable number of feathers 

 of all kinds. 



I looked down into the chasm but failed to see any thing indicat- 

 ing the robber's presence. I listened for some time and heard 

 nothing but the music that came floating up from the valley below. 



I now proceeded to climb to the shelf below, which I knew 

 from a previous survey was the last one, the rock from others 

 having fallen down. That shelf indeed was vary narrow — I 

 imagine it was hardly four feet broad but instead of dropping 

 down like the edge of a table, it became inclined like a steep 

 roof, the whole incline being formed by a somewhat coarse granite. 



I hadn't even reached that shelf when I heard the well known 

 sound; but to my surprise it didn't come from the gorge at all, 

 but seemed to have its source right under that inclined rock- 

 shelf, which to my great regret concealed the depth and conse- 

 quently also the bird below. Aj;ain I heard the call and this 

 time quite distinctly. I became all excited, forgot precautions 

 and everything else and began sliding down in a sitting position 

 with the rifle over my knees and using my feet as a brake (I was 

 barefooted). The more I advanced the steeper the incline 

 became and there finally came a point when the soles of my feet 

 nor the seat of my pants seemed to have any seizing influence; 

 and I think I might have tried to stop had it not been for another 

 call that coaxingly came from below. This time I was mad! 

 I forgot the incline and the wall and the danger and just kept 

 on sliding down over the rock shelf and suddenly came to a 

 stand-still at its lowest edge, owing to a little projection about 

 one inch high. And then what do you think I saw — the valley? 

 No ! It was there but I did not see it. 



I saw one thing only and that was the big bird. It was sitting 

 on the stump of a mountain pine, a mountain pine that had grown 

 in a shelf about two feet broad and about fifty or a hundred feet 

 below where I was. 



I aimed, fired and missed. The bullet struck some feathers 

 out, it is true but the bird was not seriously hurt, for, slowly 



