"Listen, friends!" he said, in a loud voice, bringing down his hand with a bang on the table.
"The Herr Graf and his friend go shooting to-morrow morning. Every man will be here by four o’clock—four o’clock, do you understand? In placing the guns, you will take care that the Herr Graf, and the other Englander, have the _Haupt-platz_² alternately. Four o’clock, every one of you, remember. And now, in God’s name, Hans Halm, let us have some of your white wine, that I haven’t tasted for many a day!"
² The Haupt-platz is the point at which the deer are most likely to break cover, and therefore the best position for the sportsman. There are generally one or two of those good places, which are invariably given, as a compliment, to strangers.
There was a new life in the big forester, now that he had sniffed the resinous odour of his native woods, and was once more among his own people. He languished in the dull solitude of Kent; here he knew his business, he was respected of men, and he speedily showed that there was none of the old swing and vigour gone out of him.
He had scarcely spoken of the wine, when Grete came up with it in a tall white measure, a modest and pleased smile on her face.
"She does not smile like that to the young Mr. Schoolmaster," whispered one keeper to another. "Our Gretchen has her favourites."
"God give her courage if she marries Hermann!" said the other. "He will drive her as we drive the roe."
"Nonsense! Hermann Löwe is an infant with women. You should see how his sister-in-law in Donaueschingen manages him."
At this moment the schoolmaster, whom nobody had noticed, came forward and said to his rival—
"How do you find yourself, Hermann Löwe?"
"Ah, right well, Herr Schulmeister," replied the other, giving him a hearty grasp of the hand. "And I’ll tell you what I’ve got for you in my box. I looked for all the beetles, and creeping things, and butterflies I could in England, and all the strange ones I have brought for you, with a fine big pin run through their body."
"No, I’m not. You did a good turn to my sister-in-law’s child when he was nearly dead with eating those berries—that’s all. And do you still read as much, and gather beetles yourself? Now, look here—I must have all the lads in the neighbourhood to drive for me in the morning, and they’ll have to work hard, for the Herr Graf is not a patient man, and he gets angry if there are not plenty of bucks; and so, if the boys are too tired to go to the evening school—you understand?"