256 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



in a constitutional state, in my eyes it " can do no 

 wrong;" and when a blunder is committed, I, as re- 

 sponsible minister, am ready to bear the blame. 



Moreover I always clean the weapon myself; and, 

 though a rifle is an inanimate thing, the care and at- 

 tention thus bestowed make you like it all the more, 

 and feel for it a certain regard. Always on my re- 

 turn from the forest or the mountain, let me be never 

 so tired, or wet, or hungry, my first care is my rifle, 

 to see that it is dry, to wipe the locks and look care- 

 fully to the inside of the barrels ; and then, but not 

 before, do I provide for myself; then comes the re- 

 freshing toilette and the pleasant meal. 



It is the 14th of September : all the clocks in 

 Munich are striking five, and the stage-coach is rolling 

 noisily through the streets, and going southward. I 

 and my rifle are inside, and when day breaks to- 

 morrow, shall see the sun rising over the snows on 

 the Zug Spitz and the Wetterstein. 



