6o BIG GAME SHOOTING 



sufficiently strong to make them move far or fast. However, it 

 was enough to render any further attempt useless that day ; so 

 that, after making another detour and kiUing a chamois on his 

 road home, Littledale reached his camp and turned in by 8 p.m. 

 Next morning he and his guide were delayed at starting by 

 the mountain mists, which hid everything, so that they did 

 not reach the hunters' camp until 6.30 a.jNI. Going at once to 

 the spot at which they had seen the ttir the day before, they 

 hunted high and low without success, and then took a line 

 along a ridge, which they stuck to until it grew so steep and 

 dangerous that the guides showed signs of striking and Little- 

 dale had to give the order for ' home.' On their way back the 

 party saw their old friends the tiir far away below them, with 

 such a yawning gulf between them and the hunters as to render 

 any attempt to reach them that day absolutely hopeless. That 

 night Littledale reached camp at 9 p.m., and at 2 a.m. next day 

 was again on foot. But on this third day the tilr were not 

 upon their usual ground, and, weary with incessant early rising, 

 hard work and hope deferred, the hunters gave way for a time 

 to disappointment. But honest hard work generally gets its 

 reward, if there is only enough of it, and as Littledale's glass 

 swept slowly over the crags and snow-fields round the point on 

 which he lay, luck turned, and lo ! there was the herd not half 

 a mile away in a place where they could apparently be stalked 

 with ease, whilst even thewindfor once was in the right direction. 



At first all went well ; too well, Littledale thought. Experi- 

 ence had taught him that such luck could not last. Nor did it. 

 When the stalk seemed almost at an end and success assured, 

 he came to a sheet of snow at least 100 yards in width, set 

 between him and the tfir, and within full view of the latter. 



In vain he sought for away round, or for some covert, how- 

 ever small, behind which there would be some chance of 

 crawling across ; but it was no use, there was absolutely no 

 way for him except across that glaring white patch in full view 

 of his game. It seemed, after all his hard work, too cruelly 

 tantalising even for that sport of which the Russian says that 



