EIGHTH DAY. 143 



brother-in-law and I at once set off again and drove to the 

 shooting-lodge in the Fruska-Gora along the now familiar road. 

 The other gentlemen stayed on board to rest, only Brehm 

 being absent ; and for his arrival, as I have already said, we 

 unfortunately could not wait, so for to-day we remained in 

 ignorance of his achievements. 



It was a glorious afternoon, and the view from the high 

 plateau of the outlying mountains, lit up by the evening sun, 

 was a splendid sight. We arrived at the shooting-lodge 

 without any mishap or interesting experiences, and Count 

 Chotek, who had kindly accompanied us thither, now sug- 

 gested that we should still try a stalk after roe. 



To my brother-in-law was assigned a meadow lying in 

 front of the lodge, so, accompanied by the forester, he 

 climbed up the hill through a dark beech wood, while my 

 route led me along charming glades and streams to a large 

 clearing. The sun was sinking, the shadows lengthening, 

 and the last remnants of the daylight were struggling 

 with the gathering night, the birds had all ceased to sing, 

 the crickets had begun to chirp, the bats were flitting 

 around us, and the head forester was just recommending 

 me to turn back, when I saw a roebuck standing in a little 

 meadow at the edge of a beech wood some way off. I stalked 

 up pretty close, and tried to aim as well as I could, though 

 it was already rather dark. The rifle cracked, and the roe 

 took a short sweep round, and then vanished into the depths 

 of the wood ; but though I thought it was slightly wounded, 

 the search made for it the next day by the keepers proved a 

 complete failure. 



I now hastened down to the valley, where I met my 

 brother-in-law, who had seen no roe, but had been lucky 

 enough to kill with a good rifle-shot a fox which was out 

 mouse-hunting. As it had now got quite dark w r e returned 

 to the shooting-lodge together, where our very kind host, 



