THE PREPARATION. 231 



tribute the failure to his rifle, but to his own over- 

 hastiness or want of skill. On the other hand, when at 

 160 or 180 paces he has brought down a chamois, he 

 praises his good weapon, and looks at it complacently 

 and with cherishing regard. The reputation of my rifle 

 I maintain as though it were mixed up with my own. 

 Like the monarch in a constitutional state, in my eyes 

 it "can do no wrong f and when a blunder is com- 

 mitted, I, as responsible minister, am ready to bear the 

 blame. 



Moreover I always clean the weapon myself; and, 

 though a rifle is an inanimate thing, the care and at- 

 tention thus bestowed make you like it all the more, 

 and feel for it a certain regard. Always on my return 

 from the forest or the mountain, let me be never so 

 tired, or wet, or hungry, my first care is my rifle, to see 

 that it is dry, to wipe the locks and look carefully to 

 the inside of the barrels ; and then, but not before, do 1 

 provide for myself; then comes the refreshing toilette 

 and the pleasant meal. 



It is the 14th of September : all the clocks in Munich 

 are striking five, and the stage-coach is rolling noisily 

 through the streets, and going southward. I and my 

 rifle are inside, and when day breaks tomorrow, shall see 

 the sun rising over the snows on the Zug Spitz and the 

 Wetterstein. 



