338 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



proper times and seasons. A rare quality too was his, 

 he never begrudged another who knew how to appreciate 

 his good fortune a signal success in the chase, but on the 

 contrary was delighted at his luck, and always shared 

 heartily in his exultation. And the same feeling made 

 him allow me to plan my stalking expeditions, going 

 whither I chose, and staying out on the mountain for 

 days together. His love of mountain scenery was a 

 passion, necessary, absolutely necessary for his happy 

 existence; and his shooting -lodges on the hill-top and 

 mountain-side were sure to be built not only with re- 

 ference to the game, but on a site where some magni- 

 ficent view lay open before you, or a romantic glen could 

 be seen in all its wild picturesqueness. 



His experience too in woodcraft, his recollections of 

 past times, when noble stags were shot in Coburg, Er- 

 bach, and elsewhere, — for in those days there were giants 

 in the land, — made him a companion from whom, on such 

 matters, much was to be learned. Nor on these alone; 

 for he had not only seen much, but had known the most 

 eminent men of his own most eventful time ; and his 

 reminiscences of the changes which had taken place in 

 Europe, and of the master-minds who had wrought or 

 had opposed them, made his conversation a singular en- 

 joyment. Would that I still could hear his voice, and 

 receive his friendly welcoming ! 



End of September, 1854. It was getting late, and the 

 stars already began to twinkle brightly, as we entered 

 the narrow gorge between the high mountains that led to 

 the place of my destination. The road sometimes passed 

 close beside the mountain-stream, now wound through 

 the pine-forest, to avoid the torn-down banks and trunks 

 of trees which the devastating torrent had rooted up in 

 its spring-time violence; or occasionally even took us 



