156 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



overawe the marauders, should any be met with. As 

 might have been foretold, he was wrong in his calcu- 

 lation ; for the power which such an individual exer- 

 cises is a moral one, quite independent of his con- 

 stable's staff, or, as in the present instance, of his 

 bayonet and side-arms. Obedience to him is ceded 

 out of respect to the law, which happened just at that 

 time to be as devoid of dignity as power. Even in 

 the plain the laws had ceased to be respected ; it was 

 something to excite a smile therefore thus to see 

 stationed, high up on the mountain-top, out of the 

 world as it were, and in presence of wild nature only, 

 where courage and physical strength alone availed 

 anything, one " dressed in a little brief authority," 

 expecting to curb rough and reckless natures. While 

 on the look-out the gamekeepers and gendarme were 

 surprised by thirty poachers, each armed with a rifle, 

 who at once ordered them to descend and leave 

 them to drive the game according to their pleasure. 

 Where the numbers presented such odds, opposition 

 would have been ridiculous ; the foresters and their 

 companion therefore had no alternative but to return 

 home, and announce that the intended hunt must be 

 postponed. 



These grand hunts in the mountains are very inter- 

 esting, on account of the immense quantity and variety 

 of game that is often seen, besides the opportunities 

 afforded of observing the habits and movements of the 

 various animals when influenced by fear, surprise, or 

 bewilderment. At early morning the keepers and 



