KREUTH. 115 



To go after them was impossible ; for fields of ice 

 were there, with large clefts in them, and into one of 

 these frightful crevices both had doubtless fallen. 



Had he told me that, Prometheus-like, he had been 

 chained to a glacier for a whole winter amid the icy 

 world of the mountain-top, exposed to the rains and 

 tempests and the dreary darkness, I could almost 

 have believed his words, so in unison were his features 

 and his whole appearance with such a tale. 



I was glad to find that I should be able to go out 

 in company with Max Solacher, or Maxl as he was 

 familiarly called ; for many friends had told me that 

 with him, being one of the best stalkers, there would 

 be more chance of success than with any one else. 



The next morning at five o'clock he came to the inn 

 to fetch me, and we sallied forth at once into the grey 

 dawn. After following the road for some distance we 

 turned aside and entered the forest ; arid when the 

 light of the morning had come over the hill- tops and 

 penetrated into the hollows, and through the gloomy 

 boughs, it showed that even already the characteristics 

 of mountain scenery had begun. Beside the rugged 

 path a wild torrent was tumbling over blocks of stone, 

 that in some preceding spring had been loosened and 

 washed down from the higher ground by the rush of 

 a thousand streams. Some huge tree had been felled, 

 and in the deep part thrown across it as a bridge, the 

 branches hanging down in the water, and its trunk 

 mercilessly split and hacked. It was a region of wood, 

 where a whole tree would perhaps be taken to mend 



i 2 



