64 SHORT STALKS 



right, and still higher than we were. " That is your father 

 with the other Herr.'' "' Yes, they are very late, hut they 

 will get down an easier way." The way down this part of 

 the cliff is extremely intricate. It is composed of what I 

 can best describe as hard-baked slopes ; that is, shoots of 

 nuid and shaly material, so baked by the sun as to afford 

 very insecure footing, and witliout l)ig hobnails they are 

 decidedly dangerous. In this case the slope was divided 

 by several horizontal lines of low cliff, only to be negotiated 

 here and there, and the scrub made these spots difficult to 

 find. In the fading light we lost the way more than once, 

 and it was })itch dark before we got to the mule-path. As 

 we tramped along it, I fancied I heard another shout behind 

 us, and then I saw a light glimmering in the woods alwve 

 the line of our descent, and where no lio-ht should l)e. 

 Joliann said it must l)e made by some woodcutters, and 

 that the other party would l)e surely back in camp Ijefore 

 us. A two-mile walk l)rought us there, but they had not 

 returned, and I now felt sure that they had tried for the 

 same passage as ourselves and failed to find it ; and it was 

 clear that they could not get down safely without a lantern. 

 As a matter of fact they also were burdened with a heavy 

 buck. They had given up the attempt to descend when I 

 first saw their lioht, and were now makino' the best of it 

 under a rock, where I should have done better to have left 

 them ; but that I could not tell. Snatching up the lantern 

 we hurried down the valley again. At the bridge we again 

 saw the glimmer in the wood, and a distant answering 

 shout assured us that we were not mistaken in the identity 

 of the party. Lighting the lantern, Johann and another 

 man started to })ick out the difficult way while I waited 



