42 SHORT STALKS 



loud ru.sliing sound, and at the same time a cry burst from 

 Colani. Lenz drew l)ack and saw above him an enormous 

 Liimmergeier, which in another instant wouhl have shoved 

 him down the precipice. Cohxni's shout had saved him 

 from certain death. Soon he spied out five chamois in a 

 spot, one of the most difticult and dangerous that can be 

 conceived. Cohini had only been there once before in his 

 life, he said. However, straightway he Inickled his gun 

 on his shoulder, and reached the narrow gallery of a vast 

 perpendicular rock, which sank to immeasurable dejDths 

 below. The loose earth slipt from under them at every 

 step. The ledge became narrower and narrower. Objects 

 beneath appeared like the smallest s^^ecks. As they went 

 on, vast chasms intervened from time to time, giving 

 them sudden glimpses of the world below, and at last the 

 path seemed to disappear altogether. ' Now, look sharp,' 

 shouted Colani, and catching hold of a jutting tooth of 

 rock, he swung himself over to the opposite side, leaving 

 his companion to do the same. Lenz imitated him with 

 the courage of despair, and rather, as it would seem, to 

 the astonishment of C*olani, who quietly remarked, ' I did 

 not think we should both have stood here too-ether. And 

 now,' he said, 'for the chamois ; w^e have got round them 

 fixmously.' In half an hour they reached the top of the 

 mountain, where they had seen the animals. Two were 

 lying at their feet among the Alpine roses, on the brink of 

 a precipice. Lenz's heart beat as he fired over C^olani's 

 shoulder. One of the animals sprang into the air and 

 rolled backwards down the precipice ; Colani's shot missed, 

 his gun 1)eing poised on a tottering piece of rock. Lenz 

 wished to go down and secure his prey, but Colani with- 



