34 CRASNOI LAIS. 



the bushes and thick covert in front, every ear 

 intently listening for the patter of feet or the sound 

 of breaking brushwood. But as yet no sound : 

 even the Cossacks were too distant to be heard 

 as yet. Did some one move along the line ? No, 

 every soul is still as we are. Again the crash ; 

 the sound that set our hearts beating a few nights 

 ago, but now far less startling in the daylight than 

 it was then in the shadows and stillness of night. 



Here they come trooping towards our line, four 

 does and a tall stag in front, half trotting, half 

 walking, tossing their dainty heads up and down 

 as they approach. They advance straight to- 

 wards the oak at which I saw my German friend 

 posted, and I reluctantly hold my hand that he 

 may make the best of his chance. Nearer and 

 nearer they come, and yet no shot breaks the still- 

 ness, though they are almost past him. Suddenly 

 they throw up their heads, and witli a rush are 

 lost in the forest beyond, without a shot having 

 been fired at them. My friend had of course 

 broken the rules, left his own tree, and gone off to 

 one which seemed to him to have greater attrac- 

 tions. Thus the deer had for the second time 

 passed him unfired at. 



Soon the shots began to ring out, at first only 

 a dropping fire, though towards the end of the 

 drive the firing was so frequent as almost to 

 resemble file-firing. After the red deer a wild cat 



