chloss," and dinner is served at five, in a room panelled
with wood and decorated with trophies. The emperor and the king sit
next to each other, while Baron Gudemus, as grand huntsman, faces them
on the opposite table. The attendants are not liveried footmen, but
jaegers and game-keepers. On arising from the table the party as a rule
descends into the courtyard, where all the game killed during the
day is laid out on a layer of pine branches, the jaegers forming three
sides of a square, lighting up the scene with great pine torches,
while the huntsmen sound the _curee-chaude_ on their hunting horns. By
eight or nine o'clock, everybody is in bed, and the whole chateau is
wrapped in slumber.

During the last three or four days of the stay, the so-called
"Treibjagds," or "Battues" take the place of stalking. They are
far more ceremonious, but infinitely less fatiguing and interesting
affairs, and as they begin between eight and nine, and last till four,
they do not involve getting out of bed at the unearthly hour of three
or four in the morning. They necessitate, however, an enormous amount
of preparation and organization on the part of the grand huntsman. For
at least forty-eight hours previously, a vast corps of "treibers,"
or Styrian mountaineers engaged for the purpose have been employed in
surrounding a district of mountain and valley many miles in area.
The circle is gradually narrowed down until the whole of the game is
driven from the heights into the valley, where the emperor and his
guests have taken up their positions.

The selection of the positions of the party is regarded as a matter of
the utmost importance, and on the evening before, the grand huntsman
submits to the emperor a carefully drawn up plan of the locality. His
majesty thereupon designates with his own hand the spot where each
of his guests is to take up his position on the following morning. He
himself and the King of Saxony generally await the game in the lowest
part of the valley, the remaining guests and officials being spread up
the mountain side on each hand according to their degree of rank and
the imperial favor, those who enjoy the greatest share of the latter
being the nearest to the sovereign down the valley, while those of
less importance are posted higher up on the mountain side. By nine
o'clock, every member of the party must be in the place assigned to
him on the plan, and the beaters, who have kept the game carefully
within the