UP THE MOUNTAIN. 267 



" Oh, the laws are well enough, if they were but 

 executed. We have law, but there is no one to look 

 after it. The fellows know we must not fire, so they 

 don't care : they like to go out, and seeing how little 

 chance there is of punishment, out they go and shoot 

 to their heart's content." 



"Do they fire at the foresters here?" I asked. 

 " The Schlier See men do not hesitate a moment, 

 but as soon as they see one up goes the rifle to their 

 shoulder : whether attacked or not, it is all the same 

 to them." 



" No, here they don't : they always run away. But 

 once I met a fellow carrying off a chamois, and called 

 to him to lay down his rifle ; he did not, and was just 

 running to a tree, from behind which he would most 

 likely have let fly at me, when I called to him again, 

 ' This is the last time, you rascal ! now then, or I '11 

 fire ;' and as he did not, I fired. The trigger worked 

 rather hard, so the shot went off a little late, or the 

 bullet must have passed through the very middle of 

 his chest. He reached the tree however, and after- 

 wards went away." 



" And what luck the fellows have," I said : " not 

 many weeks ago one of the park-keepers of Prince 

 T * * * fired at a poacher he caught in the park. The 

 ball passed his ear, just touching it. And another, 

 since then, shot a poacher's cap from his head : both 

 got off safe." 



"Well," said Neuner, "and it was but the other 

 day a young forester near here sent twenty-six shot 



