Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/45

 eard the crunching of his hoof,
 * saw the branches of one antler.
 * Softly then among the boulders
 * I crept forward on my belly.
 * Crouched in the moraine I peered up;-
 * such a buck, so sleek and fat,
 * you, I'm sure, have ne'er set eyes on.

ASE
 * No, of course not!

PEER
 * Bang! I fired!
 * Clean he dropped upon the hillside.
 * But the instant that he fell
 * I sat firm astride his back,
 * gripped him by the left ear tightly,
 * and had almost sunk my knife-blade
 * in his neck, behind his skull-
 * when, behold! the brute screamed wildly,
 * sprang upon his feet like lightning,
 * with a back-cast of his head
 * from my fist made knife and sheath fly,
 * pinned me tightly by the thigh,
 * jammed his horns against my legs,
 * clenched me like a pair of tongs;-
 * then forthwith away he flew
 * right along the Gendin-Edge!

ASE [involuntarily].
 * Jesus save us-!

PEER
 * Have you ever
 * chanced to see the Gendin-Edge?
 * Nigh on four miles long it stretches
 * sharp before you like a scyth