AN UNLUCKY DAY. 151 



themselves. Here they knew they were secure, as 

 no one would approach thus unprotected within shot, 

 and the surrounding rocks were too far off for a 

 gamekeeper, if lurking there, to do them any harm. 

 So they waited till it grew dark, and Maxl all the 

 time lay above watching them. At dusk he stole 

 away, and hastened off to a path where he thought 

 they would pass on their way down to the valley. 

 From the spot where he had been watching them 

 were two paths only which it was possible for them 

 to take; there was no other way of getting down 

 the mountain. He chose the one which he thought 

 the most probable, and waited in silence beside the 

 path, well concealed, intending when they came to 

 h're both barrels into the midst of them. He staid 

 until eleven, when he heard at a distance the sound 

 of their voices, by which he knew they had taken the 

 other path. 



Evening was closing in, and we hastened our steps. 

 The light bounding motion of Solacher as he sprang 

 down the mountain was really admirable. Over all 

 the inequalities, stones, holes, or stumps of trees, he 

 leaped like a roe : leaning on his long pole he jumped 

 over everything that came in his way, or swung him- 

 self down where the broken ground caused a sudden 

 fall in the descent; no chamois could leap more 

 lightly. He would stop every now and then, and look 

 round to see if I was near, and then bound forwards, 

 and again stand and wait ; for I was tired and lagged 

 behind, which I was not wont to do. But after such 



