THE HINTER RISS. 339 



over those beds of loose stones which give such spots so 

 drear and barren an appearance. Just before the even- 

 ing began to sink into deeper gloom, a large bird — a 

 cock of the woods or a black-cock — would rise from 

 the dense underwood, and scared flutter away to some 

 neighbouring tree. Soon however nothing was to be 

 discerned except the dark line of the mountain-ridge 

 sharply cutting the pale star-lit sky ; and the only sound 

 was that deep reverberation of the rushing water, which 

 may be heard so far off, and, in the quiet of night, 

 seems amalgamated with the very air, tingling and im- 

 bued with the sonorous monotonous sound. All space 

 was filled with it : it was on the mountain-sides, and 

 the hollow murmur rose to their lonely summits. 



It produces a peculiar sensation to be moving thus 

 at night through such a gorge, locked in on all sides 

 by high dark masses that defy our scrutiny or any at- 

 tempts to choose a way save that which the gigantic 

 forms themselves prescribe. Being dark the winding 

 of the valley could not be discerned : before, behind, 

 around, all seemed closed; so that it even appeared as 

 though there were no outlet by which to emerge 

 again into our accustomed world. At length a light was 

 seen ahead ; and as the carriage rolled over the wooden 

 bridge, others made their appearance, and I soon recog- 

 nized amid the glare the well-known faces of my friends 

 the Jager, who had come out to see what belated tra- 

 veller had arrived at so unusual an hour. Then came 

 the pleasant welcoming, a question or two about the 

 stags and the chamois, and sanguine expectations of what 

 the next few weeks might see achieved. 



In the morning a grand consultation was held. Being 

 the rutting season I asked about the stags. They were 

 heard, I was told, only at distant intervals ; and if du- 



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