several yards, then began to descend the steep 

 wall by tacking back and forth on broken and 

 extremely narrow ledges, with many footholds 

 barely two inches wide. He was well down, 

 when he missed his footing and fell. He tumbled 

 outward, turned completely over, and, after a 

 fall of about twenty feet, struck the wall glan- 

 cingly, at the same time thrusting his feet against 

 it as though trying to right himself. A patch of 

 hair — and perhaps skin — was left clinging to 

 the wall. A few yards below this, while falling 

 almost head first, he struck a slope with all four 

 feet and bounded wildly outward, but with 

 checked speed. He dropped on a ledge, where 

 with the utmost effort he regained control of him- 

 self and stopped, with three or four stiff plunges 

 and a slide. From there he trotted over easy 

 ways and moderate slopes to the bottom, where 

 he stood a while trembling, then lay down. 



One by one his flock came down in good 

 order. The leaps of flying squirrels and the 

 clever gymnastic pranks of monkeys are tame 

 shows compared with the wild feats of these 

 masters of the crags. 



27 



