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CHAPTER XXX. 



ON THE GEMS JOCH. 



The sides of the valley were beginning to grow dis- 

 tinctly visible as we set out on our expedition. We 

 passed opposite a spot where, the year before, I had 

 climbed after a chamois; and now in looking at the 

 place from below, I Avondered how it had been possible 

 to get up there. We pressed forwards toward the bed 

 of a stream which had torn for itself a channel out of 

 the side of the mountain. Up this we went, stepping 

 from stone to stone as each rose out of the splashing 

 water. It was pleasantly cool in this watercourse, which 

 we were about an hour in ascending. We then crept 

 along till we reached the edge of a kahr, and taking 

 off our hats peeped cautiously down. Chamois were 

 there. Suddenly Hans sank to the earth, making his body 

 as flat as possible, and signing to me to do the same ; 

 while his eyes bade me look opposite, where on the sum- 

 mit of a rock — a pleasant green table-land — a chamois 

 was standing : a fine fellow he was too. With our chins 

 close to the ground, we wound our bodies backwards, till 

 a dip in the hillside prevented our being seen. 



Resuming then a more human posture we consulted 

 on what was to be done. "That's a rare buck!" said 

 Hans, " and well worth trying for ; but how to do it, 



