278 CHAMOJS HUNTING. 



pole is a young fir : this he felled as far up the mountain 

 as possible, and then dragged after him all the rest of 

 the way. Once he let it slip, and down it rolled a con- 

 siderable distance ; but he returned, and dragged it up 

 again. And only think ! the poor fellow had nothing to 

 eat all the time, for he merely took a kreutzer-semmel (a 

 penny roll) with him, which dropped on the ice, and 

 rolled away into some crevice or hollow. Since then he 

 has been on the Spitz Berg — the only person, I believe, 

 who ever was there ; and he says it is so frightful that 

 he will never go again, but the Zug Spitz he does not 

 mind attempting. He has been on the Wetter Stein 

 too, and on nearly all the peaks you see of that range." 

 The gentian-gatherers had been gone some time, the 

 neatherd had been lying asleep on the bench beside the 

 stove since he had cooked my supper, and I began to 

 think it would be as well to turn into my resting-place. 

 The peasants stood up, the elder one said a prayer, which 

 the others repeated aloud after him, and then all knelt 

 to say the Lord's Prayer. Wishing me good-night they 

 went up a ladder behind the stove, and disappeared 

 through a trap -door, their beds being above the room 

 where we had been staying. Neuner preferred lying 

 down on a bench in the warmth. Being unacquainted 

 with the locality, the young forester went before me with 

 a lantern, and we thus proceeded to the shed and up the 

 shaky ladder to our dormitory. The loft was nearly filled 

 to the roof with hay. We stepped and tumbled along 

 over the fragrant heaps, and, aided by the dim light, I 

 soon made myself a right cozy nest. I pulled down 

 great masses of hay from the pile beside me, and my 

 companion flung whole armfulis over my body. Except 

 my head, which rested on a cloth thrown over the hay- 

 pillow — I owed the luxury of the cloth, by-the-by, to 



