ON THE MOUNTAIN. 203 



Berger should remain where he was, while Joseph and 

 myself passed along the ridge, keeping our heads just 

 below the sky-line, and go on thus till we reached some 

 latschcn ; then creeping quietly through these, advance 

 as near as possible to where the buck lay at rest, and 

 fire. We reached the first latschen, and still the chamois 

 remained where they were, as Berger signalled to us. 

 Joseph went first, winding himself through the stubborn 

 branches with all haste ; for when we had gone half-way 

 a huge volume of mist rose suddenly from the valley, 

 and we saw it, in thick folds, advancing with threaten- 

 ing speed. Once over that stony spot where the chamois 

 were, and he knew they would be snatched from our 

 sight; therefore it was that he made such precipitate 

 haste, causing him to be less cautious than he would 

 otherwise have been. The elastic branches, instead of 

 being put gently, almost lovingly, aside, rustled as he 

 pressed through them, and the chamois heard it. 



"Be quick I" he said, " or we shall be too late; the 

 mist is sweeping on fast." 



And just as we reached the edge of the latschen, the 

 vast form, indistinct in outline, but of gigantic stature, 

 trailed past. The chamois were already gone, and we 

 afterwards saw the buck some hundred yards before us, 

 making for the fastnesses where he knew none could 

 follow him. He walked slowly, stopping every few paces 

 to look back, and then uttering a shrill whistle went on 

 again. 



Right trusty friends as the latschen always prove to 

 the chamois-hunter in his need, equally troublesome are 

 they on other occasions. To pass a thick growth of them 

 is an arduous business. You have no ground to tread 



while your body, resting with all its weight upon it, inclines inwards to- 

 ward the mountain. 



