AN UNLUCKY DAY. 141 



off to a path where he thought they would pass on their 

 way down to the valley. From the spot where he had 

 been watching them were two paths only which it was 

 possible for them to take ; there was no other way of 

 getting down the mountain. He chose the one which 

 he thought the most probable, and waited in silence be- 

 side the path, well concealed, intending when they came 

 to fire both barrels into the midst of them. He staid 

 until eleven, when he heard at a distance the sound of 

 their voices, by which he knew they had taken the other 

 path. 



Evening was closing in, and we hastened our steps. 

 The light bounding motion of Solacher as he sprang down 

 the mountain was really admirable. Over all the ine- 

 qualities, stones, holes, or stumps of trees, he leaped like 

 a roe : leaning on his long pole he jumped over every- 

 thing that came in his way, or swung himself down where 

 the broken ground caused a sudden fall in the descent; 

 no chamois could leap more lightly. He would stop every 

 now and then, and look round to see if I was near, and 

 then bound forwards, and again stand and wait ; for I 

 was tired and lagged behind, which I w r as not wont to 

 do. But after such a day as this had been, and when 

 you have missed one or two shots, the limbs seem to 

 have lost their usual elasticity, and you plod along more 

 wearily than at another time, when the fatigue has been 

 twice as great, but the sport and shooting good. The 

 path was however so bad that it was not possible to go 

 very quickly j it was dark too, which made it still less 

 easy. Sometimes the road was formed by the stems of 

 trees laid side by side, now rendered slippery by water 

 and long use. In one place, while going down-hill, my 

 foot slipped between the stems, one of which crossed my 

 shin about half-way between the ankle and the knee. It 



