ving cleared a space of sixteen or
eighteen feet! This, however, was nothing to a musk-deer, that upon a
deal level often bounds to more than twice that length; for these
animals have been known to spring down a slope to the enormous distance
of sixty feet!

The leap over the crevasse, therefore, fearful as it appeared in the
eyes of our hunters, was nothing to the musk-deer, who is as nimble and
sure-footed as the chamois itself.

"Enough!" said Karl, after they had stood for some minutes gazing into
the lye. "There's no help for it; we must go back as we came--what says
Ossaroo?"

"You speakee true, Sahib--no help for we--we no get cross--too wide
leapee--no bridge--no bamboo for makee bridge--no tree here."

Ossaroo shook his head despondingly as he spoke. He was vexed at losing
the game--particularly as the buck was one of the largest, and might
have yielded an ounce or two of musk, which, as Ossaroo well knew, was
worth a guinea an ounce in the bazaars of Calcutta.

The Hindoo glanced once more across the lye, and then turning round,
uttered an exclamation, which told that he was beaten.

"Well, then, let us go back!" said Karl.

"Stay, brother!" interrupted Caspar, "a thought strikes me. Had we not
better remain here for a while? The deer cannot be far off. It is, no
doubt, up near the end of the ravine; but it won't stay there long.
There appears to be nothing for it to eat but rocks or snow, and it
won't be contented with that. If there's no outlet above, it must come
back this way. Now I propose we lie in wait for it a while, and take it
as it comes down again. What say you to my plan?"

"I see no harm in trying it, Caspar," replied Karl. "We had better
separate, however, and each hide behind a boulder, else it may see us,
and stay back. We shall give it an hour."

"Oh!" said Caspar, "I think it'll tire of being cooped up in less time
than that; but we shall see."

The party now spread themselves right and left along the lower edge of
the crevasse--each choosing a large rock or mass of snowy ice as a
cover. Caspar went to the extreme left, and even to the edge of the
glacier, where a number of large rocks rested on its surface. Having
entered among these, he was hidden from the others, but presently they
heard him calling out--

"Hurrah! come here!--a bridge! a bridge!"

Karl and Ossaroo left their hiding-places, and hastened to the spot.

On arriving among the boulders, they saw, t