A PROTRACTED CHASE 87 



A very lovely morning it was, intensely cold, 

 but with a hot sun. We lay watching the 

 herd, each man taking the glasses in turn 

 till his eyes grew tired, and then handing 

 them on to someone else, while ever and 

 anon an exclamation of joy would break 

 from the gazer as our friend the ibex' horns 

 would suddenly define themselves against 

 a patch of snow, or a turn of his head would 

 display them in profile ; then anyone a 

 grade higher than the onlooker would snatch 

 the glasses from him, while he in a grade 

 lower would humbly ask for a look, only to 

 be refused, unless indeed the eyes of the 

 possessor had grown particularly weary. 



By this time the snow had melted in all 

 the exposed places, and the mountains pre- 

 sented a singularly mottled appearance, the 

 colouring of slope and dell, rock and glade, 

 varying in exact proportion to its exposure 

 to the sun's rays. On that ridge the grass 

 was distinctly visible, and greener than yes- 

 terday, while the valley next it was quite 

 white with newly fallen snow ; here and 



