THE CHAMOIS 103 



' Kaare ' amphitheatre-shaped declivities two miles across, 

 the sides being formed by steep moraines ending in great cliffs, 

 a thousand or fifteen hundred feet in altitude. Along the 

 jagged top of these walls one can see with one's glasses the 

 string of flags which were put up early that morning. The 

 drive is to begin sharp at 12 o'clock, and as the beaters, some 

 forty or fifty in number, are far beyond the furthest limit of the 

 drive on the other side of the flagged ridge, punctuality is very 

 necessary. Each of the four guests has allotted to him a 

 keeper, who conducts him to his ' stand ' or post, and as we part 

 the German contingent wish each other the usual ' Weidmans- 

 heil,' sportsman's luck, as prescribed by ancient custom. The 

 drive is one of the longer ones, lasting between four and five 

 hours, so the softest looking rock is selected for a seat permit- 

 ting of a good view of the whole scene, and a layer of pine 

 branches gives increased comfort. By the time the signal 

 shot, which is echoed and re-choed from precipice to pre- 

 cipice, warns the guns of the beginning of the drive, some 

 luncheon has been disposed of, and if the wind permits it, 

 even a cigarette can be indulged in without danger. 



The result of the day would be very different were the breeze 

 even at this late hour to chop round, for no power on earth can 

 drive chamois into the teeth of a danger-tainted breeze ; but 

 this fortunately does not occur, and we can watch the drive 

 from our point of vantage, and follow the details of it at 

 leisure. On two small snowfields lying well under the cliffs 

 we can see small black specks. Closer examination with the 

 glasses discloses two bands of chamois each some twenty 

 in number ; some are lying on the snow, others, mostly 

 kids, are frisking about, the whole lot, till they hear the 

 signal shot, being quite ignorant of the impending ordeal. 

 Very rapidly does the scene change when the first alarm 

 strikes their ears. The frisky kids, which a second before 

 were playing about, now press against their respective mothers' 

 sides, while the older animals have jumped to their feet with 

 amazing rapidity. Misled by the echo as to the direction 



