TO HOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 197 



down with a rush ; if you slip or fall, or cannot stop 

 yourself, and the sledge goes over your leg, it is 

 broken in a moment : some accidents are always hap- 

 pening." 



" But in summer it must be a right pleasant life, 

 out in the forest all day long, and living on the moun- 

 tain. You stay up there the whole week, do you not ? " 



"Pleasant enough it is," he said, "but 'tis hard 

 work; and in felling the trees, seldom a summer 

 passes without one or other of us being hurt a foot 

 or an arm crushed by the stems as they fall, or some- 

 thing of the sort." 



" And how are you paid? " I asked. 



" That depends : sometimes thirty-six, sometimes 

 forty-two kreutzers a-day*. But 'tis a long day 

 from four o'clock till dark. We begin at three, for 

 it is light then in summer ; and by the time we 

 reach our hut in the evening, what with the air and 

 the work, we are glad enough to cook our supper and 

 lie down to sleep." 



" And you have nothing but your schmarren," I 

 said, "schmarren and water?" 



" Nothing but schmarren ; always schmarren and 

 good fresh water. If we had beer or anything else 

 but water we should not get on at all for thirst. On 

 a Saturday night, when we come down to the valley, 

 and then on the Sunday, we drink a can of beer or 

 so, but the whole week through not a drop. But the 

 water we get is capital." 



* Is. or Is. 2d. a-day. 



