146 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



a long way off: it rather added to the dreariness and 

 melancholy, for there was no sign of life in or near 

 that human habitation. Not a sound was heard; 

 nothing stirred above the whole surface of that sad 

 place. The grey of evening spread over the sky ; the 

 very atmosphere wore the same monotonous dull hue. 

 It was oppressively still and very dreary ; and I was 

 glad, after long looking round in vain to catch sight 

 of some living thing, when Maxl proposed to descend 

 into the valley. 



" Schlier See must lie yonder/' said I, pointing 

 northward ; "it must be somewhere in that direc- 

 tion." 



" Yes," said Max, " it is not very far off. A pretty 



set they are there ! the poachers of Schlier See and 

 of Hundham, near Fischbachau, are the most daring 

 of any : they would as soon shoot a forester as look 

 at him. And how the rascals served Probst once ! 

 You know Probst, don't you? he is a capital sports- 

 man, and as courageous as a lion. Did I never tell 

 you what happened to him near Schlier See?" 



"No, what was it?" 



" Why, one day he was on the mountain, it was 

 on the Wilder Fell Alp, and as he was looking 

 about for chamois he saw two men with rifles, also on 

 the look-out for game : they were not far off, and pre- 

 sently they went into a hut. He waited for a long 

 time, till he knew they had made a fire, and would 

 be busy cooking : it was perhaps three or four hours 

 before he saw smoke rising from the roof, but as soon 



