est is similar to that of Holland," the king said.
"I began this war, nominally, in the interest of the Duke of
Holstein, but really because it was Sweden's interest that Denmark
should not become too powerful.

"But we must not waste time in talking politics. I see the men have
finished their breakfast, and we are here to hunt. I shall keep
twenty horse with me; the rest will enter the forest with you. I
have arranged for the peasants here to guide you. You will march
two miles along by the edge of the forest, and then enter it and
make a wide semicircle, leaving men as you go, until you come down
to the edge of the forest again, a mile to our left.

"As soon as you do so, you will sound a trumpet, and the men will
then move forward, shouting so as to drive the game before them. As
the peasants tell me there are many wolves and bears in the forest,
I hope that you will inclose some of them in your cordon, which
will be about five miles from end to end. With the horse you will
have a hundred and thirty men, so that there will be a man every
sixty or seventy yards. That is too wide a space at first, but, as
you close in, the distances will rapidly lessen, and they must make
up, by noise, for the scantiness of their numbers. If they find the
animals are trying to break through, they can discharge their
pieces; but do not let them do so otherwise, as it would frighten
the animals too soon, and send them flying out all along the open
side of the semicircle."

It was more than two hours before the whole of the beaters were in
position. Just before they had started, the king had requested
Captain Jervoise to remain with him and the officers who had
accompanied him, five in number. They had been posted, a hundred
yards apart, at the edge of the forest. Charlie was the first
officer left behind as the troop moved through the forest, and it
seemed to him an endless time before he heard a faint shout,
followed by another and another, until, at last, the man stationed
next to him repeated the signal. Then they moved forward, each
trying to obey the orders to march straight ahead.

For some time, nothing was heard save the shouts of the men, and
then Charlie made out some distant shots, far in the wood, and
guessed that some animals were trying to break through the lines.
Then he heard the sound of firing directly in front of him. This
continued for some time, occasionally single shots being heard, but
more often shots in clo