BEAR-WATCHING. 179 



insignificant Rion, as it wound its way far 

 below amono'st an endless succession of hills. 



Right in front of us, but far away, rose 

 three majestic peaks, between two of which 

 the frozen waves of a o-reat giacier showed 

 from time to time through a kind of foamy 

 rose-coloured mist, half sunset, half coming 

 storm, such as you see so often in Ivazov sky's 

 pictures. 



A flight of chattering martins wheeled 

 and manoeuvred in the sky, their notes the 

 only ones which broke the perfect stillness. 

 Little by little the rosy light died out, the 

 martins disappeared, the mist cleared off, the 

 trees stood out in darker outline, and the 

 silence became more intense. The stumps 

 of trees in the field seemed to shift and change 

 places in a noiseless, mysterious way, which 

 eluded your sight and hearmg equally. 

 Looking along the barrels of my rifle, I be- 

 came conscious that the foresight, and indeed 



N 2 



