370 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



approach over the knoll to your right, as you think it 

 most likely will, or even though it show itself emerging 

 at a greater distance from a hollow on your left. Having 

 acknowledged to yourself the possibility of its moving 

 along yonder, you are not flurried or anxious when you 

 suddenly do see it appear there, as you might be if the 

 distance had not already been measured by your eye. 

 The ground having been well conned too, you know how 

 far you may let the game advance without danger of 

 its escaping you by taking another direction. You have 

 also marked the spot where the stag or chamois will be 

 best seen and most exposed as he steps along ; or you 

 tell yourself, " If he come down yonder I will not fire, 

 but will wait till he reaches the opposite side, which is 

 so steep that he must go slowly in mounting it ;" and 

 thus you are not taken unawares, let the game show it- 

 self on which side it may. If you are lying down, or in any 

 unusual position, this forethought is the more necessary, 

 in order to be able to bring your rifle to bear on this 

 side or that easily, and without such a total change of 

 posture as to risk frightening the animal. To turn your 

 head even would sometimes not be permissible. You 

 must therefore manage your limbs and body so that, 

 whether standing, seated, or lying down, directly the 

 creature is seen your bullet may fly to meet him. More 

 than one good stag have I lost by my carelessness, by 

 being unprepared for him when coming in a direction 

 other than had been expected. Indeed on this particular 

 subject, "The hunter at his post awaiting game," a long 

 and useful chapter might be written. 



It began to get cold in that vast amphitheatre, sur- 

 rounded as I was by snow and ice, and the wind that blew 

 straight down upon me added to this feeling. When 

 Hans left me I had forgotten to look at my watch : it 



