140 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



will be the worse for you ! " Quick as lightning the 

 other men turned round on hearing these words, and 

 every muzzle was pointed to the spot where the youth 

 was hidden. He of course did as he was bidden; and 

 the men, not without plenty of abuse, went cautiously 

 on their way, one of them always keeping ready to fire 

 in case he should move or attempt to send a bullet after 

 them. 



It was evident that the man behind the latschen must 

 have been there already when the Count took his station 

 among the rocks, having been stationed as sentinel in 

 case of alarm. The poachers knew the youth, which ac- 

 counts for their letting him escape so easily : had Max 

 Solacher been in his place, he would hardly have lived 

 to tell the tale. 



The men had not been long out of sight when the 

 Count heard a shot; he imagined it was from Maxl's 

 rifle, and that, on coming up, he had met the poachers 

 and killed one. 



But he was mistaken : Solacher, as he went along, had 

 merely fired at some animal below him. Hardly had he 

 done so when six men, the same mentioned above, rushed 

 out of a hut on an Aim lower down, and looked about 

 scared and astonished. But they could not discover 

 whence the shot proceeded, and this bewildered them all 

 the more. In order to be safe from a surprise they went 

 to the middle of a large bare spot, without shelter of any 

 kind, where grew a solitary tree, and beneath this they 

 seated themselves. Here they knew they were secure, 

 as no one would approach thus unprotected within shot, 

 and the surrounding rocks were too far off for a game- 

 keeper, if lurking there, to do them any harm. So they 

 waited till it grew dark, and Maxl all the time lay above 

 watching them. At dusk he stole away, and hastened 



