Page:Once a Week June to Dec 1863.pdf/481

 . 17, 1863.] related above, a frightful rumour spread through the district in which widow Fuchs’s cottage was situated, to the effect that five of the foresters had been blown to pieces while sitting round their fire. The rumour slightly exaggerated the fact: instead of five, only three of the keepers, including the Black Bear, had been killed in the manner related. The way in which their murder was effected was soon known. Ernest Fuchs had previously told a companion that he would revenge his father’s death, and how; but the latter had regarded it as being mere wild talk, resulting from ideas he had derived from the perusal of the works referred to. Ernest, on being captured and interrogated, stated that he had employed himself during the whole of the period that had elapsed since his father’s murder in following the keepers and watching where they lighted their fires, and, after they had gone, burying a quantity of gunpowder beneath the site of these, knowing that in the course of their rounds through the forests they would return and light their fire on the same spot, in consequence of its being a sheltered nook. The suspicion that Ernest was not in his right mind was confirmed by the doctor, and very soon afterwards he was seized with brain fever, which carried him off. Wherefore,” concluded Ludwig, “and because we have heard it said that the foresters have resorted to the same plan of burying gunpowder in several of those places where poachers have been known to pass the night, we always dig up the ground beneath the cold hearth before we light another fire.”

At the height to which we had climbed, the morning sun lighted up the mist, so that we seemed to be moving midst a golden vapour, while below us it appeared still dark. But for Ludwig’s perfect acquaintance with the locality, we should not have dared to move; as it was, we had to be extremely careful to save ourselves from falling down rough descents which, though not dangerous to life, would have caused considerable pain. I was close to Ludwig, and was thinking much more of my personal safety than of chamois, when he suddenly put his hand on my chest, and then pointed to the summit of the crag we were about to ascend. I could just discern the dim outline of a goat, standing with stiffened legs and head raised in a listening attitude. I was removing the handkerchief I had wrapped round the lock of my rifle, when my friend fired, and the animal’s body came rolling down the side of the crag to the place where we were standing. It was picked up and hidden in a hollow beneath pieces of rock, which our guides heaped over it, and we continued our way in pursuit of others. The mist soon cleared away, and gave us a splendid view of the wild mountain scenery, which of itself would have repaid the labour we had undergone. Our glasses were soon in requisition, for the purpose of discovering what to us, just then, was of far more interest than the picturesque; and by dint of careful examination we discerned three chamois feeding in a little valley a considerable distance below us. Ludwig took my friend with him, to make the descent at some distance, while I and Karl were to descend from the spot whereon we were standing, The width of the valley was but trifling in comparison with its depth, and the side was so steep and rugged, that before we had descended a hundred yards I felt disposed to throw a piece of rock into the valley, to disturb the animals and attract their attention to us, knowing they would, according to their usual practice, rush up the steep side of the mountain opposite, which I felt assured was within range of our rifles. Karl objected to this, as being an expedient which was not likely to be successful; as, though they would rush up the side, they would not be likely to climb it exactly opposite us, but would spring from point to point in a lateral direction, which would carry them beyond the effective range of a bullet. Soon the descent became so very difficult, as to be absolutely dangerous, as the consequence of slipping and rolling down the side of these mountains is far more serious than a similar slip among the snow-covered Swiss mountains, a broken limb and innumerable bruises being the least misfortune which might be expected to result from such an occurrence. At last I refused to go any lower, as on looking down I perceived that the descent was rapidly becoming almost vertical. Placing the point of my staff against a slight projection below me, and the butt against my chest, I sat up to take a fresh view of the chamois in the valley. Their heads were turned in the direction in which my friend and Ludwig had gone, and it occurred to me that if I alarmed the animals now, they would certainly rush within range of their guns, if I failed to kill. I loosened a fragment of rock from the side of the mountain, and threw it as far from me as I could; I then put my hat on the end of my rifle, and waved it. The chamois were at once alarmed, and began bounding upwards from point to point of the narrow projections, with limbs as rigid as though the mere concussion was sufficient to carry them upwards to any height they desired. Seeing they were taking a lateral direction, which would effectually prevent my getting a shot at them, I determined to fire, small as was the chance of hitting them. Hastily capping my rifle, I was in the act of raising it to my shoulder, when, finding the end of the staff in my way, I knocked it aside with my left elbow, forgetting in my eagerness how much I depended on this to keep me from rolling down the precipice. The next instant I fell over on my face and hands, my fingers being so lacerated by being beaten between the sharp rock and the rifle, that I was quite unable to use them for the moment, so that I lost the chance of stopping myself at the outset, and went rolling down the side of the mountain as helpless as a stone. I clutched at everything that came under my hands, but vainly, either owing to the friable nature of the rock, which gave way and rolled down after me, or my fingers were torn away by the weight of my body. A continual succession of acute pains, varied by a sensation as though I were falling through space, was terminated by a blow which rendered me insensible. When I recovered my senses, I found myself wedged in a chasm, utterly unable to move, and too weak to call out. Battered, bleeding, and suffering so acutely as I was, every second may have seemed an hour between the time