The wild boars number in the “Game Book” over 2,700.  There are eleven elks shot in Sweden, three reindeer killed in Norway, and ten bears laid low, some of them in Russia, and others in Hungary.  The emperor has, much to his vexation, only managed to bag three unfortunate snipe, an extremely difficult bird to shoot on the wing; but his record of 120 chamois is decidedly good, when it is remembered what an exceedingly difficult game this is to reach, entailing, as it does, mountaineering of the most arduous and perilous character, especially in the case of a man who can use but one arm easily.  These 120 chamois serve in a measure to atone for the twenty foxes which figure as having been shot by the emperor, a fact which is more likely to injure his reputation and prestige in the eyes of hunting men than any other fault or even crime of which he could possibly render himself guilty.  The most unique item of this “Game Book,” with the exception, naturally, of the two aurochsen, are assuredly the three whales which the emperor shot with a harpoon gun, on the occasion of his yachting trip to the furthermost portion of Norway a few summers ago.  These three huge monsters of the deep form a fitting and amusing counterpart in the “Game Book” to the three snipe above mentioned.

Emperor William has a number of shooting-lodges, among the best known of which is Hubertusstock, of which he is particularly fond owing to its proximity to the capital.  Yet it is hated by the members of his suite, for it is a terribly gloomy place.  It stands in the midst of a dense, dark forest of vast extent, and swarming with game, within a few hundred yards of the reed covered and marshy shores of the Werbellin Lake, and was built by the late King Frederick-William IV.  During the last few years of his madness this monarch was frequently taken out to Hubertusstock by his attendants, who hoped that the entire absence of all excitement and the intense solitude of the place would diminish the recurrences of his attacks of violence.

The emperor sometimes spends an entire week at Hubertusstock and it has frequently been asserted that he takes advantage of the complete absence from public observation which he then enjoys, to make secret trips abroad.  It was his absence at this place for a period of ten days while the czar was at Paris that led to the very circumstantial story in the German and foreign press about his having been in the French capital, in the strictest incognito, for several days during the Russian emperor’s stay on the banks of the Seine.  A number of people claim to have recognized him, and it is even alleged that he caught the czar’s eye, and was recognized by him during the grand entertainment given by President Faure in honor of his Muscovite visitors at the Palace of Versailles.