UP THE MIESING. 65 



Berger attributed to indecision and to fear ■ and stretch- 

 ing out his hand to me, he cried roughly, " Come, what 

 are you thinking of? give me your hand, — that 's right. 

 Now then ! " He was wrong in his supposition, for I 

 was neither undecided nor afraid, but he feared that if 

 I grew alarmed I might let go my hold ; and as the 

 moment was critical he thought to rouse and re-assure 

 me by his manner, and by holding my hand firmly in 

 his grasp. " Patience, Berger ! patience ! I shall be up 

 in a second ; I only want to find a place for my foot ; 

 don't think I am giddy. There, now I am up." And 

 then one of us, lying down at full length, reached with 

 one arm over the ledge of rock, to the spot below where 

 the rifles and poles were lying. 



With bended bodies we now stole along the crest of 

 the mountain as noiselessly as possible, for the chamois 

 were below us on our left, just over the ridge. We 

 presently looked over. I could not see them, on account 

 of a projecting rock, but Berger whispered, " There they 

 are ! Quick ! they are moving." Still as we were, 

 they must have heard us coming upon them, and, sus- 

 pecting danger, were already in motion. But they had 

 not yet whistled. By " craning" over, as a fox-hunter 

 would say, I just obtained a glimpse of one far below 

 me on a small green spot, and standing at gaze. To 

 fire in this position however was impossible. Berger, 

 all impatience and fearing they would escape, was in a 

 fever of anxiety. " Look here ! can you see them 

 now?" as with the left foot planted on an advancing 

 crag not larger than the palm of my hand, I stood as it 

 were in the air, immediately above the spot where the 

 chamois were.* A crack from my rifle was the answer. 



* While firing at a chamois under exactly the same circumstances, a 

 terrible accident happened to a Swiss chamois hunter, Ulrich Zurfluh, 



F 



