402 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



"Three thousand feet/' he replied; "not an inch 

 less, that I am certain of: it was a perfect wall of 

 rock, and below was the lake. But I do not mean to 

 say that the water was directly at the foot of the rock, 

 though from the great height it looked as if it were 

 so. It was perhaps fifty or sixty feet off, but that 

 did not make much difference. Nor was the wall of 

 rock, though it looked so, as perpendicular as a plum- 

 met-line; sometimes it receded, and then advanced 

 again, as is always the case. If you had fallen, you 

 might have bounded off from some projecting crag 

 once or twice, but would at last have dropped into the 

 lake, though not quite at the foot of the mountain. 

 Well, we all said that the chamois, if left quiet, would 

 be sure to come down again, and that it was better 

 to leave him now and not follow him. The thing was, 

 I believe, if the truth were told, none of us had any 

 wish to go along that narrow ledge ; and we therefore 

 persuaded ourselves the best thing would be not to 

 disturb him. But we first made a fire to prevent his 

 coming back, and thus had him safe where he was 

 till the morrow." 



" This was in the afternoon ?" 



" Yes, and we then went home. The next day, 

 when out stalking, I looked across with my glass from 

 a mountain opposite to where I thought he must be ; 

 and sure enough I saw him on a projecting ledge, 

 leaning against a pine that grew out of a crevice in 

 the rock." 



" Was he not dead then ?" I asked. 



