an honest face, Ignaz by name, agreed for a
trifle to carry our bundles and ample provision of food to the Olm. He
made a serious matter of it, however, when he pertinaciously insisted
on four in the morning being the hour for starting. The dispute
finally ended by the agreement to allow Ignaz to carry our belongings
at the hour he chose, seeing that all the village was ready to take an
affidavit as to his honesty, and we being allowed the same freedom of
choice for ourselves. All having thus been comfortably arranged, we
sallied forth for an evening stroll.

A turn in the quiet village street soon revealed the great massive
castle on its plateau of rock--shattered towers, broken battlements,
oriel and bay windows jutting out here and there, its bulwarks running
down the precipice, but not, as formerly, shutting in the narrow gorge
leading into the Ahrnthal, a busy, populous valley, closed in its turn
by the snow-clad bulk of the Tauern, down which, on the farther side,
the noted Kriml waterfall plunges. Remembering, from a visit paid to
the castle in the former year, that an easy winding road, shaded
by trees and commanding splendid mountain-views, led through the
fortifications by the back of the castle to the great gateway, we
chose it in preference to the steep, perpendicular path, which, always
taken by the natives, led equally to the drawbridge and main entrance.
To our extreme regret, however, we soon found our course impeded by
the huge trunks of mighty pine trees lying in a perfect pell-mell
above and on both sides of us. A glance up the hillside showed scores
more of these slain giants. To proceed was almost hopeless, and
we were forced to rest upon some timber and mark our future course
between piles oozing with turpentine.

Whilst we were engaged in our calculations, an old crone, who had
been groping about in the crevices for chips and sticks, stopped, and
seeing us thus penned in by tree boles, eyed us with a compassionate
look. "Ja, ja!" said she, "with fallen trees all jumbled together it
is hard for the Herrschaft to move on; but it's harder for us poor
folks, who have seen the trees growing here ever since we were born,
to hear day and night the axe going hack, hack, and the trees come
thudding down. Sixteen strong Welschers from a distance do the work:
they knew well enough a Taufern would have looked long at the sixers
(ten-kreuzer pieces) before he would have shorn the mighty forests.
Look you!"