426 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



to reach the place. So I went first, and a young forester 

 and one of the wood- cutters followed." 



" How broad was the ledge?" I asked. 



" It was nowhere broader than from here to there," 

 he replied, pointing to two lines in the flooring of the 

 room, marking a space of seventeen inches wide; "broader 

 than that it was nowhere — of that I am certain ; but in 

 many parts it was not larger than this border," pointing 

 to some inlaid woodwork, seven inches wide ; " and on one 

 side, rising up above you, the wall of rock, and on the 

 other a depth of three thousand feet down to the lake. 

 We went along some way, when there, right before us, 

 was a gap, — not very broad, it is true, but still too wide 

 to step across, or even for a jump. The cleft was perhaps 

 five and a half feet wide, and below in the chasm it was 

 wild and frightful to look at." 



" But how was it possible to pass ?" 



" We had a tree cut down, and flung the stem across, 

 and went over one after the other. At last we reached 

 the place where the chamois lay. It was a green spot, 

 just large enough for us three to stand upon, — as nearly 

 the size of this round table as may be (forty-two inches 

 in diameter) , only it was rather longer at one end, which 

 gave us more room to open and clean the chamois. Now 

 we had to return, and to carry the buck with us ; that 

 was the most difficult part of our undertaking." 



" It was in going back you grew giddy, was it not ?" 



" Yes, for the first time in my life. It was not ex- 

 actly giddiness either, but rather fright, — a feeling that 

 now it was all over with me, and that I should never 

 come out again. But there was no time to lose, or it 

 would really have been all over with me ; so pulling out 

 my flask, I took a long draught of the spirit that was in 

 it, and sat down to recover myself." 



