[ 145 } 
NINTH DAY. 
——_q@——_ 
WE were not allowed to enjoy our rest long, for about three 
o’clock our men awoke us, and, quickly disposing of break- 
fast, we went out into the very cool night air. Above us 
stretched a sky splendidly strewn with stars, and we could 
see the dark outlines of the mountain-tops floating before 
us in spectral forms. 
We had quitted our dwelling thus early in order to carry 
out a plan of my own, for I had begged Count Chotek to 
have a freshly killed horse exposed in front of the wolf-decoy 
hut near the meadow; and as the distance from that old 
dilapidated ambush was too great for shot, I had further 
requested him to have a new screen of boughs built somewhat 
nearer the bait. We drove part of the way along the valley 
in carts, and then followed a steep path fringed with bushes, 
which brought us to the well-known spot; and by the time we 
reached it the day was breaking in the east, the stars were 
vanishing faster and faster, and the sun soon rose grandly 
above the mountain-peaks. 
We had sent all the jigers away, and my brother-in-law 
and I were now crouching close together with our guns 
ready, and had been sitting in this fashion for about half an 
hour, when we suddenly saw a brown-coloured eagle passing 
over the opposite wood. It perched not far from the hut, 
and at first seemed to be looking at the carcass. Shortly 
afterwards a second eagle of a similar colour came and 
circled a few times round the place, and the first arrival now 
rose slowly and lazily from its perch, and both flew straight 
L 
