AN UNLUCKY DAY. 137 



they are there ! the poachers of Schlier See and of Hund- 

 ham, near Fischbachau, are the most daring of any : 

 they would as soon shoot a forester as look at him. And 

 how the rascals served Probst once ! You know Probst, 

 don't you ? he is a capital sportsman, and as courageous 

 as a lion. Did I never tell you what happened to him 

 near Schlier See ?" 



" No, what was it ?" 



fS Why, one day he was on the mountain, — it was on 

 the Wilder Fell Alp, — and as he was looking about for 

 chamois he saw two men with rifles, also on the look- 

 out for game : they were not far off, and presently they 

 went into a hut. He waited for a long time, till he knew 

 they had made a fire, and would be busy cooking : it was 

 perhaps three or four hours before he saw smoke rising 

 from the roof, but as soon as he did down he went. He 

 knocked open the door, and called to the men to come 

 out and lay down their rifles ; but no one stirred. — all 

 was still. Probst then rushed into the hut, and, seizing 

 the first fellow he saw, caught him by the throat; at 

 the same moment the other poachers came upon him 

 from behind and pulled him down backwards ; they then 

 beat him unmercifully, took away his rifle, watch, and 

 hat, and, binding his hands and feet together, left him 

 there on the ground. The Sennerinnen were all gone 

 down into the valley, so he might have lain there long 

 enough before any one came near the hut, and have died 

 of hunger and cold. Well, after lying there all that night 

 and the next day, and after trying all he could to get 

 loose, at last on the second day towards evening he was 

 able to free his hands, and with his teeth to undo the 

 cords that bound them, and weak, stiff, and exhausted, he 

 set off homewards. It was late at night when he reached 

 his cottage ; but, ill as he was for a long time afterwards, 



