TO HOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 189 



scrupulous about overstepping their boundary, if a chance 

 of getting something presented itself. 



From our covert we had a full view of the hut : the 

 men had cooked their supper, and came out and sat 

 under a tree to enjoy themselves : one went and fetched 

 a pitcher of water, and set it down in the midst of them. 

 Maxl all this while was abusing them between his teeth 

 to his heart's content, and muttering all sorts of male- 

 dictions upon their heads. This however was not so 

 much for what he then saw, as on account of what in 

 imagination he saw them doing on the morrow ; he knew 

 very well that they would not stand on much ceremony 

 about boundary-lines and limits ; and even should they 

 not shoot any of his game, their very presence disturbed 

 the chamois, and perhaps drove them over to the adjacent 

 territory, and once there they became lawful booty. 



A constant warfare is unceasingly carried on between 

 these two classes of men; their reciprocal hate never 

 slumbers, any more than their ingenuity in devising plans 

 of vengeance against each other. Seven years ago a 

 keeper whose game had suffered considerably from re- 

 peated depredations, and who had been unable, in spite 

 of all his endeavours, to overtake the marauders, hit 

 upon the following contrivance to work them injury. He 

 knew that when they were out on the mountain they 

 generally took shelter in a certain hut, where they made 

 a fire and cooked their meal. He therefore procured a 

 bomb, filled it with powder, and buried it in the hearth 

 a little way below the surface. He hoped that by the 

 time their schmarren was cooked, and the men were 

 sitting round the fire enjoying its warmth, the glowing 

 embers would have ignited the combustible mass and 

 caused it to explode : cowering as he knew they would 

 be round the blaze, he rightly judged the effects would 



