ters were not
half bad.

The succeeding morning it was settled that we should strike our camp and
move on to a fresh place. The beaters were sent back, for they were not
a bit of good. Some of the party also left, amongst them my German
friend. I do not think he will ever join a bear-hunt again, and his
departure did not surprise us. After leaving our late quarters we rode
for some hours along a singular ridge, so narrow at places as to leave
little more than the width of the sheep-track on the actual summit. This
ridge, more or less precipitous, rises above the zone of forest, and is
covered with short thick grass. We passed, I should think, thirty flocks
of sheep at different times, attended by the wild-looking Wallacks and
their fierce dogs.

We made a halt in the middle of the day, but the rain was coming down,
and we were glad to be soon off again.

In the afternoon we got over into the Roumanian side of the frontier.
The lofty limestone ridge of which I have spoken is in fact the
boundary-line at this part. We were at an elevation of about 6000 feet,
judging from the heights above us, when suddenly, or almost suddenly,
the clouds were lifted which hitherto had enveloped us. It was like
drawing up the curtain of a theatre. I never remember to have seen
anything so striking as this sudden revealing of the fair world at our
feet, bathed in glowing sunlight. We beheld the plains of Roumania far
away stretched as a map beneath us; there, though one cannot discern it,
the swift Aluta joins the Danube opposite Nicopolis; and there, within
range of the glass, are the white mosques of Widdin in Bulgaria. We
looked right down into Little Wallachia, where woods, rocks, and streams
are tumbled about pellmell in a picturesque but unsettled sort of way.
The very locality we were traversing is the part where the
salt-smugglers used to carry on their trade, and many a sharp encounter
has been fought here between them and the soldiers. This is now a thing
of the past, since Roumania has also introduced a salt monopoly.

We were treated to this glorious view for little more than half an hour;
the clouds then enveloped us again, and blotted out that fair world,
with all its brightness, as if it were not. A strong wind blew up from
the north, bringing with it a storm of rain and sleet which chilled us
to the bones. The horses went slower and slower. Including the noonday
halt, we had been ten hours in the saddle, and men and hors