Climbing for White Goats 



enough to support the finger-tips, our feet 

 resting on little roughnesses in the rock 

 which barely supported the toe. Some 

 of the work was trying to the nerves ; but 

 at length we had passed the worst places, 

 and reached a narrow fissure where the 

 ascent was easier. 



After a brief pause for a restful pipe, 

 we resumed our climb, and before very 

 long came out on the crest of the great 

 shoulder we had been ascending. From 

 this we looked out over a narrow alpine 

 valley, beyond which, steep rock-slides 

 and frowning walls rose to a great height ; 

 and just across the valley, and halfway up 

 the slide, was seen a white patch, which 

 could only be a goat. The stream-bed 

 was a little below us; and the trees which 

 grew in the valley furnished good cover 

 for stalking the game, which, however, 

 was as yet too far from the timber for a 

 certain shot. The wind favored us, for it 

 blew up the valley. We waited a little 

 to see what the animal would do ; and 

 soon it began to walk slowly up the slide, 

 stopping now and then to feed, and then 

 moving on again. In a few moments it 

 had passed behind some tree-tops, and we 

 hurried down into the edge of the tim- 

 ber. The valley was only about half a 



