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CHAPTER XIV. 



THE FALL. TO HOHENBURG AND KKEUTH. 



Comfortably smoking his pipe, I found Rietsch sit- 

 ting over a tankard of ale with a companion. With- 

 out asking his name I knew at once it must be Hohen- 

 adel. Before starting for the mountains a friend had 

 said to me, "If you go to Glass Hiitten, mind you 

 see Hohenadel ; he is an Ur-menseh " — a primeval man. 

 And in truth many such are not to be found. He is very 

 tall, broad-chested, sinewy-armed, and his muscular legs 

 seem as though they could support a world ; he certainly 

 would stand more upright beneath the load than Atlas 

 is always represented as doing. And yet, despite his 

 height and evident strength, there is nothing clumsy 

 or even heavy in the appearance of the man. His face 

 wears a good-humoured expression, and gives the assur- 

 ance that he is as peaceably inclined as though he had 

 no advantage over his fellows. Woe betide him how- 

 ever whom he finds, rifle in hand, encroaching on his do- 

 main ! Hohenadel is under-forester to his Royal High- 

 ness Prince Charles of Bavaria, and has before now 

 carried down from the mountains a warrantable stag on 

 his shoulders. Those who know anything about such 

 matters, the weight of the animal, and the difficulty of 

 stepping thus laden down a rugged steep, will understand 



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