“Not in the least, but that’s no reason for letting Rex off.” Her voice took on a little of the pretty bantering tone she used to her parents. She was beginning to feel such a happy confidence in Rex’s presence.
They were in the forest now, moving lightly over the wet, springy leaves, probing cautiously for dangerous, loose boulders and treacherous slides. When they emerged, it was upon a narrow plateau; the rugged limestone rocks rose on one side, the precipice plunged down on the other. Against the rocks lay patches of snow, grimy with dirt and pebbles; from a cleft the long greenish white threads of “Peter’s beard” waved at them; in a hollow bloomed a thicket of pink Alpen-rosen.
They had just reached a clump of low firs, around the corner of a huge rock, when a rush of loose stones and a dull sound of galloping made them stop. Sepp dropped on his face; the others followed his example. The hound whined and pulled at the leash.
On the opposite slope some twenty Hirsch-cows, with their fawns, were galloping down into the valley, carrying with them a torrent of earth and gravel. Presently they slackened and stopped, huddling all together into a thicket. The Jaeger lifted his head and whispered “Stück”; that being the complimentary name by which one designates female deer in German.
“All?” said Rex, under his breath. At the same moment Ruth touched his shoulder.
On the crest of the second ridge, only a hundred yards distant, stood a stag, towering in black outline, the sun just coming up behind him. Then two other pairs of antlers rose from behind the ridge, two more stags lifted their heads and shoulders and all three stood silhouetted against the sky. They tossed and stamped and stared straight at the spot where their enemies lay hidden.
A moment, and the old stag disappeared; the others followed him.
“If they come again, shoot,” said Sepp.
Rex passed his rifle to Ruth. They waited a few minutes; then the colonel jumped up.
“I thought we were after chamois!” he grumbled.