THE ALM HUTTE. 127 



of resinous wood to serve as a flambeau. Below were 

 the utensils used by the little household during their 

 residence on the mountain, all bright and clean, and 

 arranged in perfect order : large brown pans for the 

 milk, and smaller ones too, ranged beside each other 

 like the plates over a kitchen dresser ; wooden bowls 

 and pails, all of which had been well scoured be- 

 fore being stored away for the winter. We brought 

 up such things as we wanted, some pans to make 

 our schmarren, and a pail to fetch fresh water in. 

 Three other huts stood on the meadow beside the one 

 in which we were, and a rivulet ran gurgling through 

 the herbage and might be heard tumbling into a 

 rude basin of stones on the other side of a green hil- 

 lock. Thither Maxl now went to fill the water-pail. 

 Had he been alone he would hardly have gone even 

 thus far without taking his rifle. It is well to be pre- 

 pared for every risk, and in such situations one can 

 never be safe against a surprise. Should a poacher 

 also come to the hut to pass the night, and the fo- 

 rester be at that moment gone to the spring for water 

 to cook his supper, and his rifle left in the hut, not 

 only would he lose it, but being unarmed he would 

 be entirely at the other's mercy. As long as you have 

 a rifle in your hand, and a tree or a stone to stand be- 

 hind, the odds are as much in your favour as in that 

 of your adversaries. 



While my companion was gone to the spring, I 

 stood at the door of the hut and looked out upon the 

 scene before me. It was getting dark, and the out- 



