THE RISS. 161 



nothing. There were three of them, and they begged 

 hard to be released, making the most solemn promises 

 for their future good behaviour ; but it was in vain : 

 the next morning at daybreak Reitsch marched his 

 prisoners down to the head-forester's house. 



Such events as these give a zest to the Jager's life : 

 they afford him the highest excitement, and he pre- 

 fers, I am sure, a moderate number of poachers to 

 having none at all. Would a sailor so love a sea-life 

 were there no danger of tempest and wreck? It is 

 the perils of the deep that work the charm. It was 

 the saying of a young gamekeeper one whom the 

 poachers had not spared, for he had been so beaten 

 by them that he was nearly killed ''Without poachers 

 a Jager's life were nothing !" 



In going along we met one of the keepers, who 

 wished us good-day as he passed ; my companion told 

 me that a few years ago this man had shot a poacher 

 whom he met on the mountain, adding, "The ball 

 struck him in the very middle of his forehead." He 

 spoke of the circumstance as though it were a target 

 at which his comrade had aimed. 



From the Fall to the Vorder Riss the character 

 of the scenery is profound sadness. At last the road 

 leads through a pine-wood almost black, so dark its 

 colour; when suddenly in the distance are signs of 

 human habitation, of care and culture, and in another 

 moment the house of the head-forester appears. 



Opposite rise the Karwendel mountains, where the 

 Isar has its source, and on the right the summit of 



M 



