ON PLAIN AND PEAK 



has been under police surveillance ever since the 

 Omladina trials ! 



The first drive is through a thick fir wood, dark 

 and mossy, with the lower branches and trunks of 

 the firs covered with grey lichen. Toadstools and 

 bright red fungi grow plentifully under their damp 

 shade. The Count is on the left flank of the 



beaters ; the Prince, M , and K are on the 



right ; and I am in the centre. Come with me, 

 gentle reader! Do not sneer at the fact that we 

 carry shot-guns! At first sight it may seem unsports- 

 manlike to kill an animal as big as a roebuck with 

 anything but a rifle ; but in this sort of shooting a 

 rifle is not a success. If we get a chance at a buck, 

 it will probably be a snap-shot in thick cover ; and 

 besides roebucks we spare young bucks and (of 

 course) does everything that comes is to be shot, 

 capercailzie alone excepted. 



It is wonderfully cool and silent in the sombre 

 wood a deathlike stillness, broken only by the 

 tapping of the beaters' sticks against the trees. 

 There doesn't seem to be much game, though ! 



But what is that ? There is a rustling among 

 the carpet of dead fir needles some animal, cer- 

 tainly. There it is, but it is only a ruddy-brown 

 squirrel, that darts across the grassy ride with a 

 whisk of his bushy tail, and up a tree on the other 

 side. 



76 



