Christian, in the meanwhile, who always slept well, wherever or in whatever company he was, awoke after about six hours’ rest, and arose softly, to look out at the sky. It was not yet daylight, but as the young man was about to lie down again, he remembered the hunting-party, which they were probably already beginning to organize at the new chateau. Christian was no hunter, except with reference to natural history. He was a capital shot, but had never had a passion for slaughtering game merely to kill time and show his skill; but a bear-hunt was something new, picturesque, and also interesting from a zoölogical point of view. At the thought of it he was instantly wide awake, and fully intent upon witnessing this novel spectacle, although he might possibly find it necessary to return before it was quite over, in order to prepare for his evening’s performance with M. Goefle.
Before going to sleep, he had said something on the subject to the doctor of laws, but he was opposed to his going, since he did not care anything about the hunt himself. Christian accordingly foresaw that his good uncle would try to stop him, and, knowing his own compliant disposition, he also foresaw that he should yield.
“Pshaw!” he said to himself; “I had better slip off quietly, and leave a couple of words in pencil for him, to keep him from being uneasy. He will, perhaps, be a little annoyed, and he will not like breakfasting alone, but he has still some work to do; he has to visit old Stenson again, and I shall probably be back before he begins to feel lonely.”
So Christian stepped softly from the guard-room to the bear-room, where he dressed himself. Then, after putting on his mask under his hat, partly from habit and partly as a precaution, he went out by way of the gaard, now plunged in silence and darkness. Thence, passing through the fruit-garden, standing in its wintry desolation, he reached the lake, and finding that he was much nearer the shore at this point than if he had descended by the path on the northern side, he crossed the narrow space of ice, and proceeded by land towards the new chateau.
At this very moment, Johan was advancing across the lake from the opposite direction; without the least suspicion of the recent flight of his game, he was coming to take up his post of observation at Stollborg.
[XII.]
CHRISTIAN did not expect to find the major at the new chateau. He knew that the young officer, after the evening’s entertainment at the chateau, went every night, or rather every morning, to his bostoelle, which was only a little way off. He had not thought to ask him in what direction his country-house was, and he made no effort, therefore, to find it. It was merely his intention to watch the preparations for the hunt at a distance, and to mix among the peasants who were engaged in the general battue.
He was still following the path along the shore of the lake, when, by the glimmering light of the dawn which was just beginning to appear, he saw a man coming to meet him. He lowered his mask at once, but raised it almost immediately, on recognizing Lieutenant Osburn.
“Upon my word,” said the latter, as they shook hands, “I am delighted to find you here; I was going in search of you, and we shall gain half an hour’s time by this meeting. Come, make haste! the major is close at hand waiting for us.”
They proceeded in the direction from which Erwin Osburn had just come; he took the lead, and very soon turned into a path leading up the left side of the mountain. When Christian, who followed, had ascended this path, which was quite steep, for a few minutes, he saw two sleighs standing motionless in a narrow ravine beneath him. The major, who was in one of them, saw him at the same time, and ran forward with a pleased expression.