After Chamois in the Asturias 289 
which we had ascended; while in front, by stepping but a few 
paces across the narrow neck, we could look down into the depths 
of the gorge whence the quarry was to approach, as we feebly 
attempt to show in diagram annexed. 
The panorama from these altitudes was superb beyond words. 
We were here far above the stratum of mist which enshrouded 
our camp and the sierra for some distance above it. We looked 
down upon a billowy sea of white clouds pierced here and there 
by the summits and ridges of outstanding crags like islands on a 
surf-swept coast. 
Of bird-life there was no sign beyond choughs and a soaring 
eagle that our guides called aguila pintada (Aquila bonelli, 
immature). There are wild-boar in the forests far below, with 
occasional wolves and yet more occasional bear. 
Hark! the distant cries of beaters break the solemn silence 
and announce that operations have begun. Almost instantly 
thereafter the rattle of loose stones dislodged by the feet of 
moving chamois came up from beneath our eyrie. So near was 
the sound that expectation waxed tense and eyes scanned each 
possible exit. 
Then from the heights on the left, and already above us, 
sprang into view a band of five chamois lightly skipping from 
ledge to ledge with an agility that cannot be conveyed in words. 
The Conde and I fired simultaneously. The beast I had selected 
pulled himself convulsively together, sprang in air, and then fell 
backwards down the abyss whence he had just emerged. So 
abrupt was the skyline that no second barrel was possible ; but 
while we yet gazed into space the rattle of falling stones right 
behind attracted attention in that direction, and a chamois was 
bounding across that loose moraine (or “canal” as it is here 
called) by which we had ascended. He flew those jumbled rocks 
as though they were a ballroom floor, offering at best but a snap- 
shot, and the bullet found the beast already protected by a rock. 
Hardly, however, had cartridges been replaced than three more 
Rebecos followed along precisely the same track, and this time 
each gun secured one buck. 
Note that all these last four animals had come in from our 
right, that is, they had escaladed the “cathedral” ; though by 
what earthly means they could surmount sheer rock-walls devoid 
of visible crack or crevice passes human comprehension. For 
U 
