<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 345 



The sun was seorchingly hot, not a breath of air stirred, 

 and the blue cloudless sky was wrapt in the hazy noonday 

 heat. The very first hill made us perspire freely, for 

 the short grass on the steep slopes was very slippery, and 

 there were no stones to give a foothold. A few partridges 

 rose a long way off, a very fine jackal was missed by 

 Chorinsky, and the Grand Duke killed a particularly large 

 snake, which took a good dose of shot before it could be 

 secured. 



We got over a couple of these grey-green grassy hills 

 pretty well, but the beaters were lazy, allowing gaps to occur, 

 and the form of a proper drive in line, after the European 

 fashion, got more and more lost. The country then began to 

 assume another character flat rocks, cliffs, caves, old walls 

 enclosing terraces for vines and olives, and rocky valleys, 

 such as that behind the village of Betsahur, succeeded to the 

 bare hills. Hardly had we entered this ground when a jackal 

 jumped up from the rocks just below me, and though my 

 shot rolled him over, the nimble beast at once disappeared 

 into a deep earth mortally wounded. 



As I wanted to get my booty I sent my jager to the camp 

 to fetch the dachshunds, and waited at the place, refreshing 

 myself with some lemonade which the faithful and ever- 

 ready Achmed had produced. The rest of the gentlemen 

 continued their homeward beat, and Count Waldburg shot 

 another partridge which got up in front of him. 



My jager soon arrived with three dachshunds. A Sla- 

 vonian bred dog called Scheck, the largest and strongest of 

 them, at once dashed into the earth with the greatest eager- 

 ness, followed by his Croatian comrades Croat and Opeka. 

 In a few moments we heard a rumbling under the stones, and 

 I at first thought that they were fighting with the wounded 

 animal ; but I soon found that I was wrong, for on looking 

 down the hole I saw that they were dragging out the dead 



