RUN TO A STANDSTILL. 43 



first time an attack of tliat ' buck fever,' which 

 men generally suffer from on being first 

 entered to biof irame. But from the line the 

 tur were taking it was evident that if I meant 

 to do any good I must not lie where I was 

 watching them any longer ; and, indeed, 

 snatching up his gun, Simon bolted down our 

 side of the rido^e as hard as he could run. 



Keeping under cover of the boulders, and 

 making wide circles round several small hills 

 and peaks, he ran me to a standstill over a 

 course that I could not walk on, alpenstock 

 in hand, without stumbling. Time after time 

 my foot went over the edge and sent the 

 stones clattering down below. But stones are 

 always falling here from natural causes, so 

 that unless the goats either see or wind you, 

 a displaced stone more or less matters little. 



Twice I came down, catching my kneecap 

 a blow that made me sick, on an old wound 

 caused by collision with a gate in the hunting 



