TENTH DAY. 161 



been perfectly useless, for before I could have put up my gun 

 it would have vanished among the thickets, so there was 

 nothing for it but to wait quietly. A trying quarter of an 

 hour went by, and I was shaking with excitement to such a 

 degree that I could stand it no longer; the heat, too, was very 

 oppressive, and the mosquitoes were torturing me. So, cocking 

 my gun, I ran in as near as I could, thinking that the eagle 

 might possibly be frightened by my sudden movement, and 

 might sit long enough to allow of my shooting it. I suc- 

 ceeded in getting close up to the tree ; but as the frightened 

 bird dashed off I could neither see it properly nor raise my 

 gun on account of the thick bushes, and when I at length 

 tried to fire, the hammer caught in a branch and one barrel 

 went off before I could aim. 



There was now nothing more to hope for at this nest, so I 

 returned to the cart much dejected, after telling some wood- 

 cutters and the herdsmen, who were going about with their 

 large flocks, to make a still closer search for the wbunded 

 eagle. All their efforts, however, were unhappily unsuc- 

 cessful. 



There now began an hour of trouble and torture, for the 

 road was so vile and so steep that the cart often stood at such 

 an angle that it threatened to topple over, and we had finally 

 to get out of it and follow a long way on foot ; but luckily 

 it was shady in the woods, so the sun could not torment us 

 with its full power. 



A slight refreshing shower also passed quickly over us, and 

 then the sky gradually cleared until the deep blue above was 

 perfectly cloudless. 



We were driving through a splendid country, where the 

 hills were higher than in the neighbourhood of Cerevic, and 

 we went up and down along the most wonderful woodland 

 valleys, and often through the most magnificent beech and 

 oak woods. At last we reached the ridge of the mountain, 



M 



