288 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



they could do nothing. The thing was, I suppose, they 

 felt so sure of being safe in the hut that they did not 

 mind going to bed without their guns." 



" Well, but how did they escape ? What happened 

 to them afterwards?" 



"The forester, who was somewhat hasty, could not 

 wait till it was broad day, but in his impatience set oft 

 with his prisoners at once. It is true they were bound, 

 but not together ; and, as they were going down, Anni 

 Klaus made a spring, dashed into the bushes, and was 

 out of sight in a moment." 



" And the other, Hofer, what became of him ?" 



" He was examined, but, as is always the case, he 

 denied everything. The powder in his pocket he said 

 he had found, and invented a story about looking for a 

 goat that had strayed, to account for his being on the 

 mountain. Of course he would not confess, and he got 

 off scot-free." 



Chatting thus as we went along, we forgot the wet and 

 the rugged stony path. Everywhere something of in- 

 terest to the hunter was to be recounted : the story of an 

 adventure with a poacher, a spot pointed out near which 

 a certain good chamois had been shot, or where, in other 

 days, the red-deer might always certainly be seen just as 

 the sun was getting up over the opposite peaks. 



From afar we now perceived the meadow on which our 

 hut lay. It was still a good distance off, but the smoke 

 was circling upwards over the brown roof, and the grass 

 looked green, and it was cheerful to see the like after the 

 wildness we had left. Moreover, as we went along, I 

 was thinking all the while of the warm breakfast I would 

 cook myself as soon as we arrived there, and of the snug 

 room where I could hang up my clothes to dry. 



Were people to reflect about it, they would often be 



