308 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



really there is nothing to find fault with in it. The second 

 part of the forest law may be also fraught with some bene- 

 ficial results, such as to enforce much more care and atten- 

 tion, but at the same time very advantageous to his Danish 

 Majesty, or his agents. 



A fine of two schellings is pronounced for each shot that 

 misses a hare. 



A fine of four schellings for a fox. 



A fine of three marks ditto for a stag or a roebuck. is"o 

 excuses, such as wounding them, &c., are admitted; the game 

 must be produced, or the fine paid. 



And lastly, a fine of one golden Frederic, the largest in 

 amount of the penal code, against any sportsman who, by 

 accident or design, shoots at a hind or a doe, whether or not 

 he hits or misses. 



Bearers of guns or rattles, voluntary soldiers or impressed 

 conscripts, we all faithfully executed the manoeuvres prescribed 

 by our general -in-chief, so much so, indeed, that the night 

 had set in before the last battue was over. This, they said, 

 was the best, but what good was to be done when it was im- 

 possible to descry the form of a hare trotting through the 

 wood, or scarcely the sights of our guns ? I could just see a 

 troop of roedeer gallop by me with no other effect than 

 adding a little to my animal pulsation, but very soon after- 

 wards I heard a slower and much firmer step advancing 

 towards me ; a larger shadow became apparent, and a slight 

 moonbeam glancing through the branches fell upon the 

 huge antlers of a noble stag that was gently moving through 

 the trees, and only a few paces from me. I slipped down 

 upon my knees, and having neither ball nor rifle, but simply 

 my double-gun loaded with swan-shot, I awaited till he 

 turned his head a little on one side, and then gave him the 

 contents of both barrels in the neck. He fell stone dead, 

 with no other movement than a contraction of the legs, and 



