UP THE MIESING. 55 



forbid them, and at last he was seen no more. He 

 disappeared suddenly, most likely the poachers got 

 him. It was such a hart as will not often be seen." 



And some distance further on : " Up yonder to 

 the left, quite at the top of the mountain, I one day 

 shot three chamois." 



" How did you manage that ?" 



" Why, first I shot two, right and left ; and then, 

 knowing where the others would cross the mountain, 

 I ran forward to meet them, and sure enough they 

 came as I expected, and just as I was re-loading too. 

 I was ready with one barrel, and shot a third. Had 

 I thought of my pistol I might have brought down 

 a fourth, for one stood not twenty paces from me." 



" What !" I asked, " do you carry a pistol with 

 you?" 



"Yes, always," he replied, drawing a double-bar- 

 relled revolver (with four barrels) out of his pocket : 

 "one must always be prepared for whatever may 

 happen; and with that, if I only have a place to 

 lean against, I should not mind one or two." 



"But do the poachers attack you if you do not 

 begin with them ?" 



" Their hearts are set on the Jagers' guns : their 

 own are not good for much, and they know that ours 

 are, arid they would rather get one of them than al- 

 most anything. And they 'd give us a good thrashing 

 too, if they could," he added, laughing; "and you 

 know to be half beaten to death is not so very agree- 

 able. Besides, if you meet with such fellows in a 



