388 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



For the following week it was arranged that one of 

 us should go to Gleirs Thai, and the other take up 

 his quarters at a hut in the Karwendel valley. On 

 Monday morning therefore I was up by half past three, 

 and at four was on my way passing along the banks of 

 the noisy Isar, which alone broke the stillness of the 

 bright starlit night. 



It was about half-past seven when, as we were going 

 slowly up Gleirs, I suddenly saw a chamois, feeding right 

 in front. Bradler saw him too at the same instant. 

 Dropping to the ground, and as quickly as possible — for 

 there was no time to lose — I fired. The buck sprang 

 forward a few steps, and rolled on the earth. But what 

 exclamations of wonderment and gratulation arose when 

 my two men looked at him stretched on the greensward ! 

 He was indeed a splendid animal, jet black and with 

 hair some inches long waving down along his back in 

 the morning breeze. And how we passed our fingers 

 through it exultingly, and smoothed his glossy coat ! We 

 could not sufficiently feast our eyes on the sight. There 

 was no end to the delight. 



" You may go out for many a long year," said Wrack, 

 " before you will shoot such another. I have shot five 

 hundred in my time, but have not yet seen one to be 

 compared to him." 



He weighed, when cleaned, seventy-five pounds (Aus- 

 trian weight). 



We left him hidden under a bush, and went on up the 

 mountain. Many chamois were to be seen, but it was im- 

 possible to get near them. They all moved away, and 

 one after another disappeared in the "Wand." Soon 

 after, when approaching this place, we saw a buck, at 

 rest on a small ledge projecting from the steep side of 

 the mountain. It was but little out of the perpendicu- 



