244 



SHORT STALKS 



what l)rokeii d()wii, and there were several possible routes 

 which the ibex might take. Of these, I was placed in 

 the most likely post — the highest — on the ledge itself. 

 My view was bounded by an angle of cliff thirty yards in 

 front of me, round which the little shelf wound, and which 



CYRIL. 



hid everything except a portion of the main cliii" half a 

 mile off, and across this the faint line of the ledge was 

 drawn as with a ruler. We had agreed to watch this point 

 carefully with a glass, so as to be forewarned of anything 

 wdiicli might approach that way. Cyril, who was posted 

 a hundred feet below^ me, took five-minute turns with me 

 at this task, and we signalled to one another with a silent 

 motion of the hand. After a couple of hours of this 

 industrious watch, a slight drizzle came on which for 

 the time partly obscured the middle distance. AVhen 

 it had passed, I resumed the watch l)ut could not tell 

 if, in the meanwhile, anything had passed the point in 



