ed to the ground.

How did the Baron de Zimmer happen to be in that lonely wilderness at
such a time? What did he want here? Had he lost his way?

The most contradictory conjectures were passing in confusion through my
excited brain, and I could not tell what conclusion to arrive at, when
the baron's horse began to neigh, and the master raised his head.

"Well, Donner, what is the matter now?" said he.

Then he, too, directed his gaze our way, straining his eyes through the
darkness.

That pale face, with its strongly-marked features, thin lips, and thick
black eyebrows meeting together, and forming a deep hollow on the brow in
the form of a long vertical wrinkle, would have struck me with admiration
at any other time; while now an inexplicable anxiety laid hold of me, and
I was filled with vague apprehensions.

Suddenly the young man exclaimed--

"Who goes there?"

"I, monseigneur," answered Sperver, coming forward--"Sperver, chief
huntsman to the lord of Nideck."

A flash shot from the baron's quick eye; not a muscle of his countenance
quailed. He rose to his feet, gathering his pelisse over his shoulders. I
drew towards me the horses and the dog, and this animal suddenly began
howling fearfully.

Is not every one, more or less, subject to superstitious fears? At these
dismal sounds I trembled, and a cold shudder crept through my whole body.

Sperver and the baron stood at a distance of fifty yards from each other;
the first immovable in the midst of the deep glen, his gun unslung from
his shoulder, the other erect upon the level platform outside of the
cave, carrying his head high, fixing on us a haughty eye and a proud look
of superiority.

"What do you want here?" he asked aggressively.

"We are looking for a woman," replied the old poacher--"a woman who comes
every year prowling about Nideck, and our orders are to take her."

"Has she stolen anything?"

"No."

"Has she committed murder?"

"No, monseigneur."

"Then what do you want with her? What right have you to pursue her?"

"And you--what right have you over her?" answered Sperver with an
ironical smile. "See, there she is. I can see her at the bottom of the
cave. What right have you to meddle with our affairs? Don't you know that
we are here in the domains of Nideck, and that we administer justice and
execute our own decrees?"

The young man changed colour, and said coldly--

"I have no account to render to you."

"Beware," replied