418 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



expectation, well knowing that on such an occasion the 

 foresters would not fire at game. It must therefore 

 have been at a man, unless indeed the shot was from a 

 poacher stalking in his old haunts ; if so, he will hardly 

 escape now. for the keepers will close in upon him and 

 cut off his retreat. Meanwhile the rocks opposite, and 

 the well-known passes, are carefully scanned with the tele- 

 scope, to see if any human being can be discerned among 

 them. 



On the frontiers of Bavaria and the Tyrol a sort of 

 border warfare was constantly kept up, much the same 

 as in former days was carried on in our own country 

 in the Northern Marches. And as " the Perce owt of 

 Northomberlande" did make a vow " to hunte in the 

 mountaynes of Chyviat," just so would occasionally a 

 band of armed peasants from the Valley of the Inn set 

 off to drive the chamois on the Plau Berg or the Mie- 

 sing. 



Many a deed of boldest daring occurs at such times, 

 when the foresters, coming up with the freebooters, at- 

 tack them at once, often without heeding their own in- 

 feriority in number. But a dauntless bearing, a know- 

 ledge of the ground, a quick eye, and a readiness in 

 seizing every available advantage, will nearly always ob- 

 tain the mastery, even when the odds are most dis- 

 proportionate. Tales of such sudden encounters with 

 poachers, or of long and patient watchings for them at 

 some well-known pass, are never-failing subjects of con- 

 versation ; and told too, as they not seldom are, in the 

 living words of passion, and with the energy and elo- 

 quence of strong natural impulse, you become aroused 

 as the narrative proceeds ; you share all the excitement 

 of the stealthy approach or the unequal strife, and feel 

 an ardent longing to join in the affray. 



