136 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



the size and depth of the impression, as though by so 

 doing I could conjure up the animal and bring it back 

 again. 



It was now too late in the morning for any chance of 

 a successful stalk ; we therefore returned to the hut and 

 cooked some schmarren for breakfast. As we sat over 

 the fire with the dish between us, eating our meal in 

 silence, I could not but think how great the contrast be- 

 tween the present moment and the cheerful evening of 

 yesterday. Then how merry we were ! now both were 

 dissatisfied and spoke little. We swept up the hearth 

 and went on our way. 



In the afternoon, on our way homewards, we came to 

 a ridge that overlooked the broad side of the mountain. 

 It was a most desolate scene : the wood had been cleared 

 away, and felled trees were lying scattered in all direc- 

 tions, just as they had fallen where the axe of the wood- 

 cutter had laid them low, and the stumps that remained in 

 the ground were sticking out on every side. The surface 

 was broken, and torn up by rain, and by the great stems 

 which had been dragged downwards. A log-hut some 

 few feet high might be seen a long way off: it rather 

 added to the dreariness and melancholy, for there was 

 no sign of life in or near that human habitation. Not a 

 sound was heard ; nothing stirred above the whole sur- 

 face of that sad place. The grey of evening spread over 

 the sky ; the very atmosphere wore the same monotonous 

 dull hue. It was oppressively still and very dreary ; and 

 I was glad, after long looking round in vain to catch 

 sight of some living thing, when Maxl proposed to de- 

 scend into the valley. 



" Schlier See must lie yonder," said I, pointing north- 

 ward ; " it must be somewhere in that direction." 



" Yes," said Max, " it is not very far off. A pretty set 



