CHAPTER THE LAST. 431 



me : without it I should not have been able to free my 

 self from that overwhelming anxiety." 



But it is time this last Chapter should come to a close. 

 In it I have dwelt purposely on the particular sources of 

 joy for him who follows the game upon the mountain and 

 in the forest, and the varied excitements that from time 

 to time will stir up his heart. I have spoken of the feel- 

 ings which the grand appearances that hourly present 

 themselves awaken in his soul ; of the power which the 

 stupendous forms that everywhere uprear themselves 

 around him exercise over his mind. In the others it was 

 my wish, while describing the art of chamois-hunting, to 

 give some account of mountain life ; to introduce it as a 

 fitting background, although not absolutely necessary to 

 bring out the principal objects of the picture. 



With regard to the accounts of each day's stalking, it 

 must be remembered that, except in the Tyrol, I hunted 

 always in places where the chamois had been harried in 

 the preceding years, and where consequently scarcely a 

 head of game was left. Success therefore was difficult 

 of attainment, though all the sweeter on that account 

 than it would have been under more favourable circum- 

 stances. It is perhaps well that it often was so uncer- 

 tain, for repeated fruitless attempts teach more than the 

 brightest good-fortune j and, after all, one learns nothing 

 really well except by such experience. Be it not thought, 

 hovrever, that in saying this I mean to exalt myself into 

 an authority ; I am well aware that, between my expe- 

 rience in chamois-hunting and that of a sportsman like 

 Count Max Arco, there is about as much difference as 

 might be found in the military knowledge of a lieute- 



