“Always to the right, of course,” replied the latter.  He handed over to the other his hunting-bag, which was stuffed full, and which up to now he had been carrying, lifted his hat and went off, following a side-path at the right, down toward the region where, in the distance, one could see towering up one of the steeples mentioned in the foregoing chapter.

The young man, on the other hand, went directly down toward the Oberhof.  He had taken perhaps a hundred steps when he heard somebody running behind him and panting.  He turned around and saw that his old companion was hurrying after him.

“There was one more thing I wanted to ask and beg of you,” the latter cried.  “Now that you are alone and left to yourself, get rid of your gun; for you certainly won’t hit anything and, sure as death, you will have a mishap again, as you almost did not long ago when you fired at the hare and came very near killing the child.”

“Yes, it is damnable to be always firing at things and never hitting them,” said the young man.  “But, truly, I’ll put restraint on myself, no matter how hard it may be to do it, and not a single shot shall fly out of these barrels as long as you are away from me.”

The old man begged him for the gun, but the young man refused to give it up, saying that, without a gun, it would surely cost no self-restraint to refrain from shooting, and that his method of procedure would then lose all its merit.

“That is very true,” replied the old man, and, without bidding his companion a second good-by, inasmuch as the first one still held good, he went back reassured, along the path which had been pointed out to him.

The young man stood still, rested the gun on the ground, thrust the ramrod into the barrel, and said: 

“It will be difficult to get the charge out, and yet it can’t stay in.”  With that he tossed the gun over his shoulder and walked in the direction of the Justice’s oak grove.  Just before he got there a drove of heath fowl started up from a narrow strip of borderland, flapping their wings and screaming loudly.  In exultation the young man snatched the gun from his shoulder, crying:  “Here’s my chance to get rid of the shot forthwith!” and took aim.  Both barrels went off with a roar, and the birds flew away uninjured.  The hunter gazed after them in astonishment and said: 

“This time I thought I couldn’t have helped hitting something.  Well, from now on I shall certainly restrain myself.”  With that he continued his way through the oak grove to the house.

When he entered the door he saw, sitting at dinner in a high and spacious hall which took up the entire centre of the house, the Justice, his daughter, his farm-hands and maids, and in a resonant, euphonious voice he gave them a friendly greeting.  The Justice scrutinized him with care, the daughter with astonishment; as for the men and maids, they did not look at him at all, but went on eating without paying any attention