176 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



buck to get a fair shot at a buck and still I hoped 

 there might be one among the herd, and that I might 

 see him before he made for the latschen. Thus was 

 I divided in my intentions ; and hesitation, whether 

 in stalking or in the affairs of life, is sure to lead to 

 no desirable result. While half-resolving to make 

 sure of the fine doe before me, the whole herd began 

 to move. They must have got wind of us, for, gazing 

 round, they were all out of sight in a moment. We went 

 upwards again, and along the side of the mountain. 



"Hush!" cried Xavier, "there's a chamois quite 

 alone." 



"Where? Is it a buck?" 



" Yes, but make haste it has heard us." 



"Here, your rifle!" said I, holding out my hand to 

 take his, the sights of which were very much finer 

 than mine ; and as the chamois was far off, a hun- 

 dred and eighty yards for certain, I in this case pre- 

 ferred his to my own. 



"Does it shoot high?" I asked, sitting down and 

 resting my left elbow on my knee to take a steadier aim. 



" No, where you aim there the bullet strikes ; but 

 hold it a little forward, for the wind is now coming 

 up from below." 



" As I have it now, the ball would graze his breast," 

 I said, about to fire. 



" That J s right : you will hit him in the middle of 

 the shoulder." 



Bang ! went the rifle. " He has got the ball for 

 certain, no shot could go off better." 



