178 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



over, Celestin and I went off and stalked, getting into 

 some wild, uncanny places on narrow ledges, where 

 there were holes full of droppings, the roofs of which 

 bristled with icicles. On our way home we thought 

 we would spy the ground, and there, near the top, 

 we discovered a fine male bouquetin grazing away 

 peacefully. It was awfully hard to see the beast, his 

 colour harmonising so with the rocks that every now 

 and then he faded away into them, and until he moved 

 could not be made out again. I knew at once he was 

 not the boodah. At daylight next morning we were 

 up at the same place to spy, and in a short time dis- 

 covered the bouquetin. Seeing that he was settled, we 

 went up to the castle to see what we could do. On 

 our way up Antoine began suddenly to point up to the 

 castle and shout as usual, and getting out the telescope 

 I saw a sight for sore eyes. Up near the very top of 

 the castle, gazing at us, stood three male bouquetin, to 

 the left hand of which was the old boodah himself. 

 How grand he looked, with his chest as black as night, 

 and his thick knobby horns, you can imagine. After 

 a little we made out two more below the first three a 

 female and young one. After a bit the boodah lay 

 down, confident in the security of his old stronghold. 

 When we arrived at the foot of the castle, which took 

 us two and a half hours, we left all the men and the 

 dogs, excepting Celestin, Antoine, and a boy called 

 Joseph, and we posted ourselves, Celestin and the boy 

 going up the castle to do their beat. With great diffi- 

 culty they got up to the place I have marked 'grassy 

 slope very steep,' and when the bouquetin saw them 

 they clambered along a little broken ledge at a frightful 

 height to the chambre a coucher, a sort of cave on the 

 precipice side. Just at this time the weather, which 

 had kept fine until then, changed, and it began to snow, 



