The third day of our shooting the weather was good, but we had no sport at all.  I believe we should have done better with a different set of beaters, and this opinion was shared by several of our party.  The Foerstmeister had made a mistake in choosing men from the villages in the plain, instead of getting some of the hill shepherds, who know the mountains thoroughly well, and are not afraid of a bear when they see one.  Some of our beaters were funky, I believe, and gave the bear a wide berth I feel sure, otherwise we must have had better sport.

During the evening of the third day F——­ got a bad attack of fever, the intermittent fever common in all the Danubian Provinces.  After supper the rain came on again, not violently, but enough to make everything very damp.  I felt that under the circumstances the hut was a very bad place for him, so I cast about to see what I could do.  As good-luck would have it, not very far off I discovered a horizontal fissure in the cliff, a sort of wide slit caused by one rock overhanging another ledge.  It was fortunately sheltered from the wind, and promised to suit my purpose very well.

I collected a pile of sticks and firewood, thrust them blazing into the cavity, and fed the fire till the rocks were fit to crack with the heat.  I remembered having seen cottagers heat their ovens in this way in Somersetshire.  I now raked out the fire and all the mortuary remains of insects, and then laid down a plaid thrice doubled for softness.  Having done this, I seized upon my friend, weak and prostrate as he was, and shoved him into his oven like a batch of bread.  I had previously given him a big dose of quinine (without which medicine I never travel in these parts), and now I set to work rubbing him, for he was really very bad indeed.  In ten minutes or so F——­became warm as a toast.  The terrible shivering was stopped, so my plan of baking was succeeding capitally.  It is true he complained a little of one shoulder being rather overdone, but that was nothing.  The vigorous rubbing was of great service also.  I remembered the saying, “Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well,” so I rubbed my patient with a will.  He objected rather, but he was too weak to make any resistance, so I rubbed on.  I knew it would do him good in the end; so it did—­I cured him.  I think, however, the cure was mainly due to the baking!

After I had satisfied myself that my friend was going on well, I arranged our waterproofs in front of the opening like curtains; and then I turned in myself, for there was room for me too in the oven.  The rain descended pretty heavily in the night, but we slept well; and my patient presented a most creditable appearance in the morning.

On the fourth day some of our party bagged a few chamois, but the incidents of the day were in no way remarkable.  At night F——­ and I returned to our cave.  The others had dubbed it the “Hotel d’Angleterre.”  Considering the capability we had of warming-up, our quarters were not half bad.