THE ALM HUTTE. 121 



whitewashed, as well as the stones round the hearth 

 itself. Above it was a pile of dry thin laths for lighting 

 a fire, and in one corner a goodly stack of logs for fuel. 

 On a shelf near were some lucifer-matches and a horn 

 spoon; and there was a simple broom, fan-shaped and 

 made of heather, left as a hint for the sojourner there, 

 before he left, to make all as tidy as he had found it. • Max 

 went down a few steps in one corner of the room into 

 the cellar, having first lighted one of the long pieces of 

 resinous wood to serve as a flambeau. Below were the 

 utensils used by the little household during their resi- 

 dence on the mountain, — all bright and clean, and ar- 

 ranged in perfect order : large brown pans for the milk, 

 and smaller ones too, ranged beside each other like the 

 plates over a kitchen dresser ; wooden bowls and pails ; 

 all of which had been well scoured before being stored 

 away for the winter. We brought up such things as we 

 wanted, — some pans to make our schmarren, and a pail 

 to fetch fresh water in. Three other huts stood on the 

 meadow beside the one in which we were, and a rivulet 

 ran gurgling through the herbage, and might be heard 

 tumbling into a rude basin of stones on the other side 

 of a green hillock. Thither Maxl now went to fill the 

 water-pail. Had he been alone he would hardly have 

 gone even thus far without taking his rifle. It is well 

 to be prepared for every risk, and in such situations one 

 can never be safe against a surprise. Should a poacher 

 also come to the hut to pass the night, and the forester 

 be at that moment gone to the spring for water to cook 

 his supper, and his rifle left in the hut, not only would 

 he lose it, but being unarmed he would be entirely at 

 the other's mercy. As long as you have a rifle in your 

 hand, and a tree or a stone to stand behind, the odds 

 are as much in your favour as in that of your adversaries. 



