The breakfast was an extempore affair enough, except among those parties who had been so fortunate as to knock a hare on the head, or to secure a joint of what Moodie turned his face away from, and the Captain persisted in calling mutton. A little rye meal, mixed up cold, or in special cases, when kettles could be had, made into stirabout, was very nearly the whole of it. An older commander would have closed his eyes to the sight of brandy, and his nose to the smell of aniseed, but Moodie was young, and faithful to his trust.
Groups of men and women were collected round the fires for cooking, some rubbing up firearms, some snapping and oiling obstinate locks and picking touchholes which the wet had damaged, and drying powder which either would not go off at all or else flashed in the eyes and singed the hair and eyebrows of the operators. Gradually, however, they all began to straggle into their line, for the sounds of the dref were more and more audible, and now and then some scared and crouching beast would show itself on the side of the hill, and after drawing upon itself the fire of all who were within a quarter of mile of it, would shrink timidly back into cover, nine times in ten absolutely unharmed. Now would come, high over head, and altogether free from the chance of shot, a gallant blackcock or a tjäder, who, having run or flitted under cover for miles, had at last taken heart of grace, looked his danger in the face, and dashed across the line with that success which bravery deserves. Hares would from time to time race along the brow, unable to make up their mind which way they would head, and sometimes would draw a fruitless shot or two from a young and over-ardent sportsman, followed by the grave rebuke of his steadier skalfogde.
Meanwhile the Captain had advanced along into the shooting line, and building himself up a screen of branches, where he could fully command the passage, waited patiently for what luck would send him; absolutely despising the smaller game that occasionally stole across the line and sheltered themselves in fancied security in the skalplatz, and not greatly disturbed by the occasional double-shots from Birger’s look-out place on the cliff above, though this was not unfrequently followed by a rattle of the twigs, or a soft thud, as his victim came tumbling to the earth.
Birger’s post, indeed, had proved an excellent position for winged game, for the grouse, though by no means plentiful anywhere in Sweden, had been collected from twenty miles of country by the continued driving. Many, of course, had taken wing, and dashing over the heights, had found security in the higher fjeld, or across the river. But the grouse, especially the old cock, is a running bird, and numbers of them had continued toddling away by short and startled runs, a mile or so in advance of the dref, and now, hearing the noises in front as well as in the rear, and beginning to comprehend the precise dangers of their position, were, one after another, taking wing. Many of these followed the line of the cliffs, unwilling, perhaps unable to face them, but coasting their inequalities, and looking out for a lower point; these would come exactly on a level with Birger’s stand, and very seldom passed it unharmed.
All this the Captain left unheeded; his soul was above black game; and, burning to wash away the disgrace of the preceding night, he kept his eye resolutely fixed on the shooting line; something moves—it is a bear—no—a rascally wolf, in that nonchalant style which no amount of danger will induce him to put off, slouches across—not across, for he is worthy of the Captain’s rifle; a shot reaches him, and he rolls over and over to the very foot of the shelter he had sought. Not a stir is heard from the Captain’s screen, and when the little puff of white smoke is dissipated into air, no one would have told where the fatal shot had come from. There goes a real full-grown bear, in downright earnest, and followed by two half-grown cubs, crouching and squatting, and making themselves as small as possible, like so many rabbits stealing out of cover; but confound them, they are three hundred yards down the line, the Captain will not risk wounding or missing them, and they disappear into the trees of the skalplatz to be headed back by the hållet when too late to return.
And now the shouts and cries began to come louder and louder; and the hares, which had lingered as long as possible on the edge of the wood, began to creep, or steal, or race, or bound across the line, and among them several specimens of better game; the men were actually beginning to show themselves here and there in what, from the closing in of the ranks, had now become close order, so that nothing could have passed their line, when a gallant bear, with head erect and mouth open, dashed into the opening at full gallop, and came straight upon the Captain’s hiding-place, as if he knew where his enemy was lying, and meant, at all events, not to die without vengeance.
The Captain fired deliberately,—paused for a moment to see the effect of his shot—then fired his second barrel; both took effect on the broad chest exposed to him, though without checking, for a moment, the rush of the bear. On he came!—the screen went down like reeds before him; but the Captain had thrown himself flat on the ground, and, covered by the branches, had escaped the view of his adversary, who plunged over them, dashed at the opposite cover, and disappeared from view.
“Upon my word, that was a near thing,” said Bjornstjerna, who cantered up to the spot on his pony; “but a miss is as good as a mile,—not that you missed that rascal; I saw both shots strike as plainly as ever I saw anything in my life. Never mind, my boy, you have not lost him; he will not go far, for all his gallant bearing. Larssen!” he shouted, “Larssen! come here and take my pony. We must ride the Apostle’s horse[59] now;” and, leaping off, he proceeded to arrange his army, causing each skalfogde to muster his own men, as they came up, on the edge of the shooting line. Soiled, and wet, and dirty they looked: a Swede is rather a picturesque animal, when you are far enough off not to see his dirt, particularly when there is any general muster of them, for as each parish weaves its own wadmaal, or coarse cloth, and each wears it of a particular colour or pattern, the commencement of a skal looks, at a little distance, like a muster of regular troops, in regular, though rather eccentric uniforms: but the rains, and the dirt, and the mud-stains had reduced this to a very general average,—a sort of forest uniform of neutral tint.
Advantage was taken of the halt to clean and reload the fire-arms, most of which had been rendered useless in the morning’s beat; for though the sun was shining brightly, there had been no wind, and the rain-drops of yesterday were glittering like diamonds on the branches, and pattering down like a shower-bath on all who moved them.
In the mean time, the two chiefs having completed their junction, held a short consultation, and it was determined to advance a strong party from each side, close to the roots of the cliffs, sufficiently numerous to allow each man to touch his neighbour, and then to beat the skalplatz out to the river, which, not being quite so rapid or impassable as was expected, was guarded by the boats.