312 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



We now turned our steps homeward. As we went 

 along, Bauer told me how, close to the spot we were 

 passing, he had once met some poachers. " There were 

 five of them," he said, "and I crept through the 

 bushes, and got quite near them unobserved. At last 

 they saw me, and called out that I should make the best 

 of my way off, or they would fire." 



"And did you go?" 



" Of course not. I was lying on the ground behind a 

 great piece of stone, and I knew they could not touch me. 

 No; I stopped, and looked at them well. I recognized 

 them all, and gave their names to the Police, but nothing 

 was clone to them." 



A day or two after I arranged with Bauer to go up the 

 Kramer : though I knew there was little chance of meet- 

 ing chamois there, I still wished to go ; for it is possible 

 to be prepossessed by the face of a mountain, as well as 

 by the human countenance, and this was now the case 

 with me. There was a hut there, — or rather, as it was 

 of stone, a house containing a single room, which had 

 been constructed some years ago for the present King, 

 should he ever seek shelter or accommodation on the 

 mountain. 



" A blanket is there, too !" said Bauer triumphantly ; 

 " and a stove is in the room ; only think, a stove ! The 

 place is snug enough, but it is a long time since I was up 

 there." 



After crossing the meadows we passed at once into a 

 gulley, where the torrent came tumbling along over its 

 rugged bed. The din of waters drowned every other 

 sound, so that we did not hear the approach of Neuner, 

 who suddenly stood before us, on his way down from 

 the mountain. We stopped a moment, to interchange 

 some questions, and to pat old Bursch's head, and then 



