the act of saluting one another, scraping up the
snow with their hoofs in congratulation upon so pleasant an expedition.
Lieverle opened wide his red mouth, gaping with impatience, extending and
bending his long meagre body like a snake, and Sperver sat motionless,
his hand still upon his gun.

"Well, let us try and catch her alive. We will put on gloves if we have
to touch her, but it is not so easy as you think, Fritz."

And pointing out with extended hand the panorama of mountains which lay
unrolled about us like a vast amphitheatre, he added--

"Look! there's the Altenberg, the Schneeberg, the Oxenhorn, the Rhethal,
the Behrenkopf, and if we only got up a little higher we should see fifty
more mountain-tops far away, right into the Palatinate. There are rocks
and ravines, passes and valleys, torrents and waterfalls, forests, and
more mountains; here beeches, there firs, then oaks, and the old woman
has got all that for her camping-ground. She tramps everywhere, and lives
in a hole wherever she pleases. She has a sure foot, a keen eye, and can
scent you a couple of miles off. How are you going to catch her, then?"

"If it was an easy matter where would be the merit? I should not then
have chosen you to take a part in it."

"That is all very fine, Fritz. If we only had one end of her trail, who
knows but with courage and perseverance--"

"As for her trail, don't trouble about that; that's my business."

"Yours?"

"Yes, mine."

"What do you know about following up a trail?"

"Why should not I?"

"Oh, if you are so sure of it, and you know more about it than I do, of
course march on, and I'll follow!"

It was easy to see that the old hunter was vexed that I should presume to
trespass upon his special province; therefore, only laughing inwardly, I
required no repetition of the request to lead on, and I turned sharply to
the left, sure of coming across the old woman's trail, who, after having
left the count at the postern gate, must have crossed the plain to reach
the mountain. Sperver rode behind me now, whistling rather
contemptuously, and I could hear him now and then grumbling--

"What is the use of looking for the track of the she-wolf in the plain?
Of course she went along the forest side just as usual. But it seems she
has altered her habits, and now walks about with her hands in her
pockets, like a respectable Fribourg tradesman out for a walk."

I turned a deaf ear to his hints, but in a moment I