The boy stared in amazement at being called "Sie." Of course he dared not think that the Count was joking.
"Ich habe geschossen-wissen Sie--?"
"Ja, Herr," said the boy, vaguely, though he did not understand what the Count meant.
"Ein kleines-ein gar kleines-d-n it, look here!"
He caught the boy by the shoulder, as if he meant to kick him, and dragged him a few yards farther on, and pointed to the ground. The boy opened his eyes: if he had seen the corpse of his first-cousin lying there, he could not have been more astonished.
"Sie sehen es," remarked the Count, hurriedly, with a fine red flush burning in his stout face.
"Ja, Herr."
There lay there a tiny, soft, pretty little animal, scarcely bigger than a King Charles" spaniel, with a glossy light-brown coat, and large meek eyes, now glazed and dull. Blood was trickling from the little thing"s mouth, and also from its shoulder: the fact being that the Count, on seeing the doe and her fawn coming up, had fired both his barrels at them on chance, and had managed to destroy the helpless youngling.
If you had told the Count then, that before evening every man, woman, and child in Schonstein would have heard of what he had done, that the keepers would be sneering at him and the neighbours laughing at him, he would probably have put another cartridge into his gun and shot himself (if he were able) on the spot. His present anxiety was to get this little lad to take away the fawn under his blouse and bury it somewhere; but all he could do failed to impress the incorrigible young Schwarzwalder with his meaning.
"Verstehen Sie mir nicht?"
"Ja, Herr."
It was always "Ja, Herr;" and here were the people coming up.
Fortunately, Hermann, having sent a long blast of his horn to recall any straggling beater or keeper, had walked down to the place where Will"s slain buck was lying, accompanied by the rest of the keepers, who, as they came up, gravely shook hands with Will, according to custom, and wished him many more such shots. Then Spiegelmann, selecting a peculiarly-shaped branch of young fir, stuck it into Will"s hat; by which all and sundry-particularly they of the village-as the shooting-party returned at night, might know that he had brought down a buck.
At this moment two of the lads dragged up the deer which Hermann had shot; and one of the keepers, with his long killing-knife in hand, proceeded to disembowel the animals, previous to their being carried home. The rest of the party seated themselves on the driest spot they could find, and somebody produced a couple of chopins of white wine, which were forthwith handed round.
But what of the Count? They had all been so eager to compliment Will on his good fortune, that no one had noticed the Graf"s uneasy loitering about the fatal spot where his murdered victim lay.
Presently up came the boy.
"Hermann Lowe, the Herr Graf wants to see you. He has shot a little fawn; but he won"t let me bring it."
Hermann rose up, with a flush of vexation over his face. He did not look at his companions, but he knew that they were smiling.
"Young idiot!" he said, when they were out of earshot, "why didst thou come and say so before all the people?"
"The Herr Graf--"
"Der Teufel! Hast thou no head on thy shoulders?"
The Count was mortally frightened to meet Hermann. He did not know in what manner to conduct himself: whether he should carelessly joke away the matter, or overawe his forester by the grandeur of his demeanour.
"I see," said Hermann, when he came up; "the Herr Graf will not believe me that there is always time to look-that when there is no time to look, one need not waste powder."
"Bah! stuff! nonsense! I tell you, when they are running like infernal hares, how am I to look at their size to a nicety?"
"The fawns don"t run so quickly," said Hermann, respectfully, but firmly.
"Hermann Lowe," said the Count, hotly, "I suppose you"re my servant?"
"I have that honour, Herr Graf."
"Then you"ll please to shut up, that"s all, and get that wretched little animal out of the road. Not run quickly! D-n his impudence! I"ll have to teach these German thieves some better manners."
With which, and many more muttered grumblings, the Count walked off, leaving Hermann to cover up the dead body of the fawn, and mark the place, so that it could be afterwards taken away and securely buried.
When the Count came up to the rest of the party, he was smiling urbanely.
"Stolen a march upon me, eh?" he said to Will. "On my own ground, too.
"Gad, I"ll show you something before we"ve done. I hadn"t the ghost of a chance either time I shot; and it was lucky I missed the second time, because I saw immediately afterwards that it was a doe."
"She had a fawn with her, hadn"t she?" said Will.
"Yes," replied the Count, with a sharp glance all round the circle of faces.
Hermann now came up, and chose two of the strongest lads to carry home the two deer. Each lad had one of the animals slung round his shoulders, while he grasped two of its thin legs in either hand, and allowed the neck, head, and horns of the buck to hang down in a picturesque fashion behind him. Will went privately up to one of the boys:
"You know Grete Halm?"
"Yes."
"When you go down to the village, tell Grete to ask the English lady to come back with you; because, if she remains till midday, we may be gone too far from Schonstein. You understand?"
"Yes."
"And you may go up to the Herr Graf"s house, and tell any one you may see to send up luncheon an hour earlier than was arranged. You understand?"
"Ja, Herr."
And so the two lads went on their way; and Hermann began to sketch out to his keepers the plan of the next drive.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE.
It was, however, midday before Grete Halm and Annie Brunel arrived; and as they entered the forest at the point where the shooting-party was now stationed, they found that the drive had already commenced. Will happening to be at the corner post, it devolved upon him to enjoin strict silence upon the newcomers-a command which Miss Brunel obeyed by sitting down on the trunk of a felled tree, and beginning to ask Will a series of questions about his morning"s adventures.
They were now in a clearance in the forest some forty yards broad, and on the other side of this strip of open ground ran a long dense ma.s.s of brushwood, lying still and silent in the luminous quivering heat. Will, Grete, and Annie Brunel were in the shadow of a patch of young firs, and between them and the dense brushwood extended the forty yards of clearance, with the strong sunlight beating down on the crimson and golden moss, and on the yellow stumps of the felled trees. The air was hot and moist, filled with the pungent resinous odour of the pine-a languid, delicious scented atmosphere, which made one p.r.o.ne to day-dreaming or sleep.
Suddenly, without the rustle of a leaf, and long before any of the dogs had given tongue, there leapt out from the close brushwood into the open sunlight a fine young buck, with his head and horns high in air. The warm light fell on his ruddy light-brown coat, and showed his shapely throat, his sinewy form, and tall thin legs, as he stood irresolute and afraid, sniffing the air with his black nostrils, and watching with his full large eyes. He saw nothing, however, of the people before him in the shadow of the firs; and for several seconds he remained motionless, apparently the only living thing in the dead silence of the place. Then the bark of a dog was heard behind him; he cantered a few steps farther on, caught sight of the little party as he pa.s.sed, and then, doubly nerved, was off like a bolt into the heart of the forest.
"But, really--" said Will.
"Now, don"t make me angry with you," said Annie, releasing his right arm, which she had tightly held for three minutes. "I should never have forgiven you if you had shot that poor creature, who looked so timid and handsome--"