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CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE OLD BUCK. 



SHOULD you ever go up the Oester Berg, you 'will see 

 on your right hand, quite at the top, and just before 

 you arrive at the first meadow, a little wooden chapel, 

 with a rude bank before it, in order that the passer-by 

 may there kneel and pray. We had just reached this 

 spot, talking as was our wont of matters that most 

 interested us, when Neuner, suddenly stopping in 

 his story, exclaimed, " There J s a chamois ! Come on, 

 don't stop !" he said, as I lagged behind to examine 

 the mountain- side and discover where he was. A few 

 steps further, and we reached the bench beside the 

 chapel, whence with our glasses we could watch the 

 animal without his observing us. 



"Where is he, Neuner?" 



"Look," he replied, "you see that long strip of 

 geroll coming down from the latschen; well, to the 

 right is a black spot, that 's he." 



" Ah ! now I see him ; he is looking down at us." 



