She always bought a bottle of Jerusalem balsam for wounds, and added to the price a large slice, of bread.

She always had a hearty welcome for the wire drawer and the Jew peddler. They were the same ones each year, so that they seemed to belong to the family. But when the Gypsies appeared near the village, she was alarmed and quickly took some food and carried it out to them; for she said: “It is for one’s own advantage to see them clear to the cross roads.”

The most welcome visitor, both to the children and to the rest of the family, was Mr. Beyer, the gamekeeper of Marshendorf, from the Sudetic mountains. He came every year as the overseer of the wood that was floated down the Upa river. Mr. Beyer was tall and slender, his body being composed apparently of bone and muscle only. He had a long face, a sallow complexion, large, bright eyes, a Roman nose, brown hair, and a long moustache which he was in the habit of stroking. The gamekeeper of Riesenburg was thick - set, with a florid complexion, a short moustache, and hair always in order; Mr. Beyer’s hair was parted in the middle and hung down below his coat collar. The children noticed this at once. The gamekeeper of Riesenburg walked with an easy gait, Mr. Beyer, as though he were stepping over precipices. The former never wore such heavy boots as the latter, and his gun straps and munition bag were finer and newer than Mr. Beyer’s. In his cap he wore blue jay’s feathers, while Mr. Beyer’s green felt hat was decorated with feathers of kites, hawks, and eagles.

Thus looked Mr. Beyer; but the children liked him as soon as they saw him, and Grandmother declared that children and dogs never made any mistakes as to who were their friends; and she was right. Mr. Beyer was very fond of children. Johnny was his pet,— naughty Johnny, who was generally called a scamp; but Mr. Beyer said he would make a good, sturdy youth, and that should he take a fancy to forestry, he himself would undertake to instruct him. The gamekeeper of Riesenburg, who usually came to The Old Bleachery to see his brother of the mountains, would say: “Indeed, if he should wish to be a gamekeeper I myself would take him; for very likely my Frankie will be one, too.” But Mr. Beyer objected to this; he said: “Brother, this would not do at all; here he would be too near his home; and, besides, it is always well for a young man to learn the difficulties of his calling. You foresters and gamekeepers here below have an easy time; you don’t know what hardship is.” Here he began to depict the hardships of his lot. He spoke of great storms of wind and snow in the winter time, of dangerous paths, of precipices, of tremendous snow drifts and fogs. He related how he had been many a time in danger of losing his life, when his foot slipped upon some precipitous path; how many times he had lost his way and wandered about for two or three days without a mouthful of anything to eat, not knowing how to find his way out of the labyrinth. “On the other hand,” he added, “you dwellers in the lowlands have no idea how beautiful it is in the mountains, in the summer. As soon as the snow melts the valleys become green, the flowers burst into bloom, the woods are full of song and fragrance, and all seems as if an enchanter’s wand had passed over it. Then it is a pleasure and a delight to wander about in the woods for game.