[ 145 ] 



NINTH DAY. 



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 jagers 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 



