g2 THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AS A SPORTING ANIMAL

to hold a small pile of rocks which had slipped down
there. Straight to this butte the goat rolled and tumbled
and finally, after going several hundred feet, lodged. He
was perilously near the edge, and being afraid he might
have just one kick left in him that would be sufficient
to carry him over, I dropped my rifle and lost no time
in hastening after him.

It was at this time I forgot to be cautious and did a
most foolish thing. From where I was, about fifty yards
off to one side, I could have crossed on almost level ground
to directly above the butte, but instead of so doing,
must needs jump on to the snow and cut diagonally down
hill, taking big leaps which carried me deeper into the
hard snow and gave me better footing. It was an abso-
lutely senseless thing to do, but having become accus-
tomed to travelling on snow banks in this way, I did not
see any danger.

At first all went well. My jumps gave me splendid
footing until I was within a few feet of being directly
above the butte and about a third of the way down.
Then something happened. The deep snow had melted,
solid ice was only just covered, my feet flew up in the air,
my head hit the ice with a crack that made me dizzy,
and the first thing I knew I was sliding at a rapidly in-
creasing speed for the edge of the bluff.

If I had descended the snow bank, when I first started,
just a few feet straighter, nothing on earth could have
saved me. As it was I thought my time had really come,
and I was a badly frightened man as I went sailing down
that slope with nothing between me and the edge except
slippery ice. Steeper and steeper it got, and faster and
faster I went. To stop was utterly impossible. Luckily
there was still about 200 feet to go before the edge was
reached and I made good use of the distance. For a
moving-picture film there is no doubt that the exhibition
I gave of clawing, kicking, and rolling would have been
of immense value, but it would take a few millions to
induce me to repeat the performance. However, by
using every ounce of the strength and energy in my