AN UNLUCKY DAY. 145 



the contrast between the present moment and the 

 cheerful evening of yesterday : then how merry we 

 were ! now both were dissatisfied and spoke little. 

 We swept up the hearth and went on our way. 



In the afternoon we tried our luck once more. 

 Going along the skirt of a wood, we saw a chamois 

 among the trees : strangely enough he had not per- 

 ceived us, though we came suddenly upon him. We 

 kept behind the trunk of a large pine, and watched 

 his movements. There was much thick underwood 

 where he stood, and as he changed his . position he was 

 continually hidden by the stem of some intervening- 

 tree. Now he advanced, now retreated; for a mo- 

 ment he disappeared, and again his head alone was 

 visible. One or the other of us made a slight move- 

 ment ; the creature heard it and looked round : he 

 gazed for a second, then gave a sharp whistle, and 

 dashed away into the thicket. I fired as he turned, 

 and the sudden movement saved him, for he escaped 

 untouched. 



On our way homewards we came to a ridge that 

 overlooked the broad side of the mountain. It was 

 a most desolate scene : the wood had been cleared 

 away, and felled trees were lying scattered in all di- 

 rections, just as they had fallen where the axe of the 

 woodcutter had laid them low, and the stumps that 

 remained in the ground were sticking out on every 

 side. The surface was broken, and torn up by rain, 

 and by the great steins which had been dragged down- 

 wards. A log-hut some few feet high might be seen 



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