KECOLLECTIONS OF CHAMOIS HUNTING 55 



one's temper. It is a perfect net-work of interlaced 

 1>i';inclu'S, too tliick to ])iis1i aside, too tliiii to bear your 

 weight. If you try to get over them, they fly up at tiie 

 wrong moment, and it" you crawl under them they pull 

 your cap ofl", and catch the rifle which hangs at y(Hir back. 

 Ill a thick grove of it you cannot see three yards in any 

 direction except towards the valle\'. i su])pos(' ii was 

 some instinct, which lower animals like myself do not 

 possess, that guidod Johanu to the right spot, but we 

 found ourselves at last at the top of the clilf under which 

 the cliamois had been lying. They had moved, and for 

 some time we had to crawl about through the branches, 

 peering down through peepdioles in the deep fringe which 

 ]irojccts l)eyond the upper edge of the cliff. At last 

 Joliann siu'ned that thev were below us. I struui-led Lo 

 his side, and thi'ough a gap I saw one of them for a 

 moment, but he had moved befoi'e I could o-ct the rifle 

 into my hand, and the brandies hid him from me. Then 

 .b.thaiiii pointed out another riglit under me. I had to 

 stand up and shoot straight down. As I fired he gave a 

 shiver and bounded off, so that he was at once hidden. 

 We pushed through the thicket to a more open place, and, 

 as we reached it, 1 cauiiht sieht of the brown Hank of 

 another which was making off through the covert, and 

 knocked over a second, stone death <,>iiickly we found a 

 way to descend and let ourselves down by the branches. 

 There was the blondx- track >>\' ilie first clianioi-. The 

 poor beast had not gone fir. l>iit had life enough left to 

 get awav once more. F()l lowing more cautiously, I got 

 a siii'ht of his head. an<l lini.-shed Inui willi a bullei ihroiejli 

 the neck. 



