Great was afterwards his annoyance to find that, instead of arriving, as he had expected, at the _châlet_, he had quite reached the base of the mountain, and that merely a narrow ravine separated him from another of precisely the same description. He stood for a moment irresolute, and felt—very hungry. The sun had begun to colour vividly the eastern sky, and after a little consideration, he found that returning to the alp would oblige him to mount again, and he was still very uncertain in what direction it lay; whereas, if he took another course, he would probably in an hour or two find some opening into one of the surrounding roads, where he could enter the first peasant’s house he should see, and procure something to eat. In this conjecture he was perfectly right. Sooner than he had dared to hope, a cheerful house, prettily situated on a green hill, and surrounded by fruit-trees, rejoiced his eyes. Some wild sunburnt little boys and girls announced his approach, and when he came to the door he found a large family assembled. His wants were soon made known; and a table, placed before the wooden bench which ran along the front of the house, was soon covered with a rustic, but not frugal breakfast—an enormous loaf of dark-brown bread, a basin of milk, covered with thick yellow cream, some pounds of butter, honey, cheese, fried eggs, and a sort of mashed-up _omelette_, called _Schmarn_. While Hamilton was eating, the peasant’s wife stood near, her youngest child on her arm, and a couple of others leaning against her. She assured him if he had not been in such a hurry she could have made some coffee for him; she always bought coffee at the fair, and drank it every Sunday! She was so sorry her husband was not at home, but she expected him every moment; he had gone up to the alp at daybreak, with fresh rolls for the breakfast of the gentlemen who had been out shooting. As she spoke, a loud gay voice was heard in the distance, jodling, and the children all rushed down the hill and disappeared in the wood. “That is probably your husband,” said Hamilton; “I shall be glad to hear what sport they have had on the alp.” “Oh! you were there, too,—perhaps—I have been thinking and thinking where you could have spent the night; you did not look as if you had come from the town!” “I dare say not,” said Hamilton, laughing; “most probably I look as if I had spent the night among the rocks, and that is actually the case; I lost my way yesterday evening.” The peasant soon after joined them, and to Hamilton’s eager inquiries as to the result of the hunt, replied that a chamois had been shot in the evening, but that the disappearance of a young Englishman who had gone out with them had spoiled everything; they had searched for him until dark, and that Baron Z— had been out to look for him before daybreak; even the ladies had joined in searching, and one of them had been up nearly to the top of one of the mountains with the goatherd.