THE ALM HUTTE. 129 



I had often to go on the lake I asked to be stationed 

 elsewhere, for that dread of the water I never could 

 overcome." 



" You would of course rather be there than at Kreuth ?" 

 I asked. 



"Certainly, much rather. There is no place like 

 Berchtesgaden — what mountains and difficult places ! 

 And there too we used to have a right merry life, so many 

 gentlemen came to shoot. Once/' he continued laughing, 

 " something curious happened to me, but though I was 

 sadly disappointed at the time, it amuses me now when I 

 think of it." 



"What was it, Maxl? let us hear the story." 



" Well," said he, " a certain Baron von C came 



from Munich for some shooting. I don't know who 

 he was, but he was sent with a recommendation from 

 some one at court to the head-forester. I was to go 

 with him. The day before we went out, he told me 

 that if he missed the first chamois, he would give me a 

 hundred florins !" 



" If he hit it, you mean," said I, interrupting him. 



" No, no, if he missed, he said I was to have a hun- 

 dred florins, and if he hit, he would give me ten : I was 

 astonished, and asked if he was in earnest. ' Oh yes/ 

 he answered, ' quite so : if I miss the first shot, a hun- 

 dred florins are yours. ' Well, I thought, it is strange 

 enough, — but a hundred florins ! that 's a sum worth 

 having ; and I began considering how I could manage 

 to make him miss the first time he fired. All night 

 I lay awake thinking the matter over, but I could 

 not hit upon any plan whatever. Next day I was go- 

 ing up the mountain to show him his stand before 

 the drive began, when down below us in a gully I saw 

 some chamois. That 's just right, thought I ; now then 



