138 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



after the drive had begun. I was very pleased all the 

 time, being sure he had not hit him. On our way 

 down I went to look after the chamois; and sure 

 enough, there he lay, quite dead. The Baron gave me 

 the ten florins as he had promised, but the hundred 

 which I had calculated on having I did not get." 



Our cheerful fire, the warm beverage, and the merry 

 stories we had to tell each other, made the long even- 

 ing pass away quickly enough. 



" It is a pity the maids have left no cheese here," 

 said Max, who, like myself, was getting hungry again; 

 " they would if I had told them. They would leave 

 anything if they thought it would be of service 

 cheese, salt, in short whatever I choose to ask for." 



There was something very pleasing in these little 

 acts of kindness, this thoughtfulness of another's 

 wants, when there should be no one to minister to 

 them but himself. But indeed there is much good- 

 heartedness in these people; and I never left the moun- 

 tains and my trusty friends the foresters, to move 

 again among the conventional forms of town society, 

 without a regret for their many gracious services, ren- 

 dered always with the best of all politeness that of 

 a willing heart. 



" Now, Maxl, it is time for bed ; empty the pipkin, 

 and then let us turn into the hay. But we will first 

 see how the weather looks." And I opened the door 

 of the hut. Without was darkness as profound as 

 that which must have weighed upon the world when 

 all was yet chaos : not a star was in the sky. I never 



