ON THE MOUNTAIN. 201 



already on the move. I ran forward to meet them, and 

 as they came on but slowly, to get ahead of them was 

 not difficult ; then lying down at full length, with my 

 left arm resting on the ground, and the rifle pointing 

 almost perpendicularly downwards over the rocks, I took 

 a steady aim. I was in no hurry, in no fever of excite- 

 ment, but qi$te calm ; and, though the shot was a long 

 one, feeling quite confident in my rifle, and certain I 

 should hit the mark. I knew perfectly well that, firing 

 downwards, I ought to aim low; and yet, instead of 

 doing so, by some strange unaccountable perversity I 

 aimed high ; and purposely so, conscious all the while of 

 what I was about. I fired, and the ball went just over 

 the animal's back. There was no excuse for having 

 missed ; it was all owing to my own stupidity, and this 

 only made the matter more vexatious and provoking. 

 After the shot they turned back, and we counted eight 

 as they passed along far below us. With our glasses we 

 discerned a buck and a doe a great distance off: we de- 

 termined to try our chance of approaching them, and 

 looked for a place where we might get down the rocky 

 steep. Good practice it was too, coming down that 

 Handsheimer Eipel Spitz ! Joseph, on account of the 

 weakness of his right arm, was carefully searching for a 

 spot where, under such circumstances, he could manage 

 best. Berger and myself tried elsewhere, and began to 

 move carefully over the ridge. At first sight this seemed 

 hardly possible, so abrupt was the descent. Snow too 

 was lying here and there, making the little projections 

 on which it rested a very slippery, unsure footing, and 

 there was nothing to hold by, no support save the iron- 

 shod pole which we carried with us. 



To come down the rocks is always more difficult than 

 to climb up them. As you invariably descend with your 



