France -- History -- 15th century -- Juvenile fiction
One of the huntsmen now said that they would be obliged to go back and
come up the other side of the gorge, as they must get above the game in
order to shoot it, so they went down a steep ravine, climbing over
ledges of rock and up the other side. But in the meantime the sentinel
had done his duty and had informed his friends of the presence of the
men with their bows and arrows, and the party, which now could see the
flock, numbering some twenty animals, saw a scampering that was
wonderful to behold. With a series of remarkable leaps they sprang over
a gulch and climbed up rocks so steep it seemed as if no living creature
could have found a footing.
Round the other way went the hunters after them, rushing pell-mell over
rocks and shrubs, but all the animals escaped save one, which seemed
doomed eventually to become the prey of Maximilian. Higher and higher
climbed the frightened chamois, higher and higher followed the straight
athletic figure of the emperor. Once when he was hunting chamois
Maximilian had found himself in a position so perilous that it seemed to
him that nothing but the suddenly-developed wings of a bird could
possibly extricate him, but he did not remember former dangers now, for
he thought of nothing but the capture of the frightened creature flying
before him.
Finally the hunted animal could go no farther, finding it impossible to
climb higher, or to pass its pursuer in a downward flight. So there was
nothing to do but to wait in trembling expectancy the death that was
sure to come. The emperor seized his knife, and the chamois, as if
willing at last to yield to the inevitable, seemed to lean its soft body
toward the cruel blade, then fell headlong down the rocks, from where it
was afterward taken by the attendants.
And thus the hunt continued, and Philibert, though he watched it with
interest, had turned his mind upon the attainment of one object, and
that was finding a cluster of edelweiss. Sometimes our thoughts appear
to be reflected in the mind of some one besides us, and it now seemed to
be the case, for Le Glorieux said, "I am not foolishly squeamish, I
should hope, and I have stood up in battle and shot at men who were able
to defend themselves, but I can not say that it amuses me in the least
to see a chamois killed. They are such gentle things, and they make such
a plucky effort to save themselves, and they look at their captor with
such piteous eyes when they are stabbed, that I do not see anything
enjoyable in it, though, of course, I am nothing but a fool. And, as our
little princess wants a sprig of edelweiss, I shall go in pursuit of a
flower instead of a chamois."
"Le Glorieux, dear Le Glorieux, let me get the flower for her," pleaded
Philibert.
"What matters which of us gets it, so long as she has it?" asked the
fool. "Let us both look for it, and then it will be more likely to be
found."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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