a day's sport on the krammets berg. 159 



" We must keep away to the left, or they will see 

 us," said Xavier. "There are many together, and no 

 doubt more are lower down, although we don't see them 

 from here : those above will soon be moving downwards. 

 It is lucky we were off in such good time this morning j 

 this is just the right moment for them." 



" There will hardly be a buck among them, I fear : 

 you can't make one out, can you?" 



" No, as yet those I see are all does ; but there may 

 be one perhaps losver down among the latschen." 



We now kept to the left, and passed over the shoulder 

 of the hill, so that our heads might not be seen by them 

 as we ascended in a line parallel with the spot where they 

 stood. The latschen through which we crept were thick, 

 and it was difficult to get along. Once on the ridge, we 

 still remained on the other side, and so advanced, just 

 keeping our heads below the sky-line. To do this is 

 often not easy ; for the face of a mountain on the north- 

 ern and southern side is not only quite different, but 

 the change begins from the very crest ; on one side the 

 surface being smooth and grassy, and on the other an 

 abrupt and precipitous descent, with a ledge perhaps so 

 narrow as scarcely to afford a footing. This ledge too 

 is not flat, but steeply sloping ; and if snow be lying on 

 it, the difficulty and danger are pretty nearly on a par. 



On we went, hardly daring to raise our heads, lest the 

 chamois, which we knew must now be near, should see 

 and be startled by our forms. Suddenly Xavier, who 

 was a step or two in advance, dropped to the earth ; I 

 knew what that meant, quite as well as when, a second 

 afterwards, he said, " There they are !" pointing to a 

 deep rent or gash in the mountain's side. This yawning 

 chasm, or clam, as such are called,* began just below 



* The name of this one was the Kothl Clam, on the Stahl Joch. 



