vii THE BOUQUETIN'S CASTLE 175 



west through the deep snow. Old Antoine and Jethen 

 took up the tracks, tying up the dogs and leaving every 

 one behind. The tracks led straight up the hill, and 

 eventually up into that tremendous rock above the 

 Sanctuary, which I now call the castle. It is, as you 

 will remember, a desperate place, a broken precipice 

 about 700 feet high, with a few grassy spots near the 

 top of it. Antoine pronounced it impossible to go up, 

 especially as icicles varying from an ounce to a ton 

 weight were falling like a fusillade every moment. It 

 was useless attempting anything, so we went home. 

 Next day it was snowing hard, and we could do 

 nothing. Indeed, I think the next three or four days 

 we were snowed in. At last a fine day came, and we 

 were determined to try the place where I shot the old 

 bouquetin (this I have christened ' The Rocks '). I 

 posted myself below your old post when we beat the 

 Sanctuary, only looking the other way, and Post went 

 to the centre of the rocks. On his way up with Antoine 

 he saw a fine old bouquetin and a young one, and just 

 as the beat was over, he saw another bouquetin going 

 as hard as he could along a narrow ledge. The beast 

 went, as they thought, into a place he could not get 

 out of; but on sending a man into it, they found he 

 had climbed out of it by the top. I saw nothing but 

 beds of bouquetin under the cliffs where I was posted, 

 and the freshly-nibbled-off young pine shoots on the 

 trees close to my foot. Next day, hoping that the 

 boodah had come down from his castle, we beat the 

 Sanctuary, I posting myself at the entrance. I have 

 drawn a plan of the castle so that you can understand. 

 I was just to the left where you see V. B. Post was 

 at his old place where he saw the bears. The dogs 

 found at once, and off and on I heard them running 

 like mad in the wood far below me. At last their cries 



