186 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



without such inducement, you feel that you would much 

 like to enter there*. 



My guide now pointed to a high peak on our right : 

 " A year or two ago/' said he, " a peasant was lost up 

 there: he went out on the mountain, and never came 

 back." 



" Out poaching, I suppose — eh ? " 



" Yes, he was out with his rifle, and alone. For three 

 whole days his friends — a band of them — scoured the 

 mountain in search of him, but could find nothing. They 

 knew he had gone there, because he said he intended 

 doing so ; besides, the last time he had been seen alive 

 was by a boy who met him on the way; but with all 

 their trouble they discovered nothing. 



" And what did they think had become of him ? " I 

 asked. 



" Oh, no doubt he was shot, and the body hidden some- 

 where. A mountain, to be sure, is a large thing ; yet if 

 he had slipped down anywhere, some trace of him would 

 surely have been found, for every part was searched day 

 after day, and I know not how many there were out look- 

 ing for him. They were in a great rage, suspecting he 

 had been shot ; and if they could have had the slightest 

 proof of this against any of the gamekeepers, they would 

 have taken a terrible revenge." 



At last we saw Kreuth below us, while crossing the 



* Should the reader of these remarks be curious to know the cost of 

 such buildings, it is to be computed thus : one florin per square foot 

 contained in each story, and half as much for the construction of the 

 roof. Thu3 a cottage forty feet long by thirty broad, and one story high, 

 would cost as follows : — 40 x 30 = 1200 florins for the ground-floor; the 

 same for the first story, 2400 florins ; which, with 600 for the roof, makes 

 3000 florins, or £250 for the whole building. For tins sum it could be 

 built with a certain finish and with all the decoration usually found in 

 such cottages. The foundations are always of stone. 



