We sat long contemplating and meditating over this grand spectacle. From time to time the old poacher, noticing me with my eyes fixed upon some distant object, would explain-- "That is the Wald Horn; this is the Tiefenthal; there's the fall of the Steinbach; it has stopped running now; it is hanging down in great fringed sheets, like the curtains over the shoulder of the Harberg--a cold winter's cloak! Down there is a path that leads to Fribourg; in a fortnight's time it will be difficult to trace it." Thus our time passed away. I could not tear myself away from so beautiful a prospect. A few birds of prey, with wings hollowed into a graceful curve sharp-pointed at each end, the fan-shaped tail spread out, were silently sweeping round the rock-hewn tower; herons flew unscathed above them, owing their safety from the grasp of the sharp claws and the tearing beak to the elevation of their flight. Not a cloud marred the beauty of the blue sky; all the snow had fallen to earth; once more the huntsman's horn awoke the echoes. "That is my friend Sebalt lamenting down there," said Sperver. "He knows everything about horses and dogs, and he sounds the hunter's horn better than any man in Germany. Listen, Fritz, how soft and mellow the notes are! Poor Sebalt! he is pining away over monseigneur's illness; he cannot hunt as he used to do. His only comfort is to get up every morning at sunrise on to the Altenberg and play the count's favourite airs. He thinks he shall be able to cure him that way!" Sperver, with the good taste of a man who appreciates beautiful scenery, had offered no interruption to my contemplations; but when, my eyes dazzled and swimming with so much light, I turned round to the darkness of the tower, he said to me-- "Fritz, it's all right; the count has had no fresh attack." These words brought me back to a sense of the realities of life. "Ah, I am very glad!" "It is all owing to you, Fritz." "What do you mean? I have not prescribed yet." "What signifies? You were there; that was enough." "You are only joking, Gideon! What is the use of my being present if I don't prescribe?" "Why, you bring him good luck!" I looked straight at him, but he was not even smiling! "Yes, Fritz, you are just a messenger of good; the last two years the lord had another attack the next day after the first, then a third and a fourth. You have put an end to that. What can be clearer?" "Well, to me it is not so very clear; on the contrary, it is very obscure."