336 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



of teeth, of gasping for breath, or of violent tremblings 

 throughout the whole body ; yet I do not doubt that 

 the presence of the red- deer of Scotland may have the 

 same potent charm as that of his German compeer; 

 and I am quite sure, if it ever were my good fortune 

 to get a day's stalking in the Highlands, that such 

 a sight as Sir Edwin Landseer has shown us in his 

 " Drive" would set my heart beating exactly as of old. 

 It was now three o'clock, and we turned our steps 

 downwards ; but still, not to give up a chance, we de- 

 termined to have a look in a deep ravine that yawned 

 like a terrific gash in the mountain's side. It ex- 

 tended almost to the very summit, jagged, deep, and 

 frightful. Hither, Neuner said, the chamois loved to 

 resort ; it was a quiet spot, or rather one undisturbed 

 by human neighbourhood ; but the roar of the near 

 waterfall resounded in the chasm. We cautiously 

 climbed down towards the brink, and looked over 

 and around. Every crag was minutely examined with 

 scrutinizing eye ; our gaze pierced among the stunted 

 shrubs and the withered stems of ghastly-looking 

 skeletons of trees ; and then we looked high, high up, 

 where the mountain had been torn, and where the 

 savage rent had left a perpendicular wall of glaring 

 stone. But all was without sign of life, not a crea- 

 ture was to be seen. We were still looking, when a 

 sharp whistle came across to us over the broken hollow. 

 We started, and each looked at the other in surprise ; 

 and then, with widely-open eye and with head bent 

 forward, gazed and stared toward the rocks whence 



