268 The Wbite Goat 



T looked at me and said nothing. I was 

 therefore left uncertain if it came home to the 

 mind of the mountaineer that this royal progress, 

 this historic and panoplied moment, was a bad 

 one for a nobleman to select to tumble off his 

 horse in. I continued : 



" I believe that the Queen, upon seeing the 

 accident, sent somebody.'' 



" Where ?" said T . 



" To the marquis. She probably called the 

 nearest King and said, ' Frederick, Lome's off. 

 Go and see if he's hurt' " 



" ' And if he ain't hurt, hurt him,' " added T , 

 speaking for the Queen. So I perceived that he 

 had given the situation its full value. 



After this second day of success, storm and 

 snow beat down upon us, a blinding day, keep- 

 ing us in camp. More storms followed, and no 

 more goat; and we had to shoot a horse which 

 had " cast " himself, being entangled in his rope, 

 and so frozen as he lay helpless overnight in the 

 heavy snow. We left these mountains and de- 

 parted to others in search of a herd of goat; 

 I wished a female and kid, and we seemed to 

 have lighted upon a resort of old solitary males. 

 Eight days after the second goat we sighted our 



