234 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



among them after he fired. He hit one only in the 

 breast ; of course he wounded him badly, but the man 

 recovered/' 



"And the two he shot on the mountain?" 



" One only was dead the first he fired at : he fell 

 directly, and never moved after. The other he hit in 

 the shoulder, and broke his arm, so that it was obliged 

 to be taken off. At first he thought he had killed 

 two, for the ball knocked both over at once ; but Koth- 

 bacher, you know, after the second shot, made off as 

 fast as he could, for he did not know what the others 

 might do, and having fired both barrels he could not 

 defend himself. But only think what odds one against 

 three-and-twenty ! He must have been a brave fellow, 

 must he not?" 



" I suppose they never knew who it was fired at 

 them? Of course Kothbacher never said a word." 



" Not a syllable : no, they never found it out. The 

 fellow who was shot was the son of a rich peasant near 

 Schlier See, the only son too. The same night that 

 it happened his parents heard some one knocking at 

 the window, and a man, in a voice quite unknown to 

 them, said that if they would go up to the Geidauer 

 Eibel Spitz they would find their son ; and next day 

 they went, and there they found him, sure enough, 

 lying dead." 



