CHAPTER THE LAST. 425 



below was the lake. But I do not mean to say that the 

 water was directly at the foot of the rock, though from 

 the great height it looked as if it were so. It was per- 

 haps fifty or sixty feet off, but that did not make much 

 difference. Nor was the wall of rock, though it looked 

 so, as perpendicular as a plummet line; sometimes it 

 receded, and then advanced again, as is always the case. 

 If you had fallen, you might have bounded off from 

 some projecting crag once or twice, but would at last 

 have dropped into the lake, though not quite at the foot 

 of the mountain. Well, we all said that the chamois, if 

 left quiet, would be sure to come down again, and that it 

 was better to leave him now and not follow him. The 

 thing was, I believe, if the truth were told, none of us 

 had any wish to go along that narrow ledge ; and we 

 therefore persuaded ourselves the best thing would be 

 not to disturb him. But we first made a fire, to prevent 

 his coming back, and thus had him safe where he was till 

 the morrow." 



" This was in the afternoon ?" 



" Yes, and we then went home. The next day, when 

 out stalking, I looked across with my glass from a moun- 

 tain opposite to where I thought he must be ; and sure 

 enough I saw him on a projecting ledge, leaning against 

 a pine that grew out of a crevice in the rock." 



" Was he not dead then V' I asked. 



" Yes, he was dead ; but he must have expired while 

 leaning against the tree, for he was sitting exactly as if 

 alive; had no tree been there, he would have rolled 

 over, and we should never have seen anything more of 

 him. Well, I then went to see about fetching him out, 

 but they all said it was quite impossible to get along the 

 ledge. However the chamois was there, and I was de- 

 termined not to lose him, without at least making a trial 



