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CHAPTER VII. 



AETEE THE CHASE. THE SOLACHEES. 



To every one who has followed the chamois or the 

 red-deer in the Highlands of Bavaria, the name of 

 Solacher is a familiar word. And though he may 

 not have carried a rifle in those parts, yet if he be a 

 lover of the chase, that name will still have reached 

 his ears, and be known to him in connection with 

 many a story of adventurous climbing, of desperate 

 encounter with poachers, and of trophies borne off 

 from the shooting-matches at Munich or the village 

 festivals. If, when sitting round the table of the little 

 inn of an evening, you hear some old fellow telling 

 when the last bear was seen in the mountains, and 

 whence he came, and how great the excitement when 

 the news ran of his arrival, you may be sure it was a 

 Solacher who was first in the pursuit, and that, whether 

 they killed the monster or not, to one of that name 

 the honour of the day was due. 



Each and all of them have been "hunters of the 



