136 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



it was frozen I slipped through a hole. I came up 

 under the ice; but by a wonderful chance, after 

 going down a second time I rose at the hole again, 

 and my comrade pulled me out. Since then I have 

 quite a horror of the water. I should never have 

 left the Konigs See but for that : however as I had 

 often to go on the lake I asked to be stationed 

 elsewhere, for that dread of the water I never could 



overcome." 



"You would of course rather be there than at 

 Kreuth?" I asked. 



"Certainly, much rather. There is no place like 

 Berchtesgaden what mountains and difficult places ! 

 And there too we used to have a right merry life, so 

 many gentlemen came to shoot. Once," he continued 

 laughing, " something curious happened to me, but 

 though I was sadly disappointed at the time it amuses 

 me now when I think of it." 



" What was it, Maxl ? let us hear the story." 



" Well," said he, " a certain Baron von C * * * 

 came from Munich for some shooting. I don't know 

 who he was, but he was sent with a recommendation 

 from some one at court to the head-forester. I was 

 to go with him. The day before we went out, he 

 told me that if he missed the first chamois he would 

 give me a hundred florins !" 



" If he hit it, you mean," said I, interrupting him. 



" No, no, if he missed, he said, I was to have a 

 hundred florins, and if he hit he would give me ten : I 

 was astonished, and asked if he was in earnest. 'Oh 



