Vegetation was very abundant in the richly watered mountain valley.  Our favourite spring was the Schaalbach at the foot of the Steiger,—­[We pupils bought it of the peasant who owned it and gave it to Barop.]—­because there was a fowling-floor connected with it, where I spent many a pleasant evening.  It could be used only after breeding-time, and consisted of a hut built of boughs where the birdcatcher lodged.  Flowing water rippled over the little wooden rods on which the feathered denizens of the woods alighted to quench their thirst before going to sleep.  When some of them—­frequently six at a time—­had settled on the perches in the trough, it was drawn into the but by a rope, a net was spread over the water and there was nothing more to do except take the captives out.

The name of the director of this amusement was Merbod.  He could imitate the voices of all the birds, and was a merry, versatile fellow, who knew how to do a thousand things, and of whom we boys were very fond.

The peasant Bredernitz often took us to his crow-hut, which was a hole in the ground covered with boughs and pieces of turf, where the hunters lay concealed.  The owl, which lured the crows and other birds of prey, was fastened on a perch, and when they flew up, often in large flocks, to tease the old cross-patch which sat blinking angrily, they were shot down from loop-holes which had been left in the hut.  The hawks which prey upon doves and hares, the crows and magpies, can thus easily be decimated.

We had learned to use our guns in the playground.  The utmost caution was enforced, and although, as I have already remarked, we handled our own guns when we were only lads of twelve years old, I can not recall a single accident which occurred.

Once, during the summer, there was a Schutzenfest, in which a large wooden eagle was shot from the pole.  Whoever brought down the last splinter became king.  This honour once fell to my share, and I was permitted to choose a queen.  I crowned Marie Breimann, a pretty, slender young girl from Brunswick, whose Greek profile and thick silken hair had captivated my fancy.  She and Adelheid Barop, the head-master’s daughter, were taught in our classes, but Marie attracted me more strongly than the diligent Keilhau lassies with their beautiful black eyes and the other two blooming and graceful Westphalian girls who were also schoolmates.  But the girls occupied a very small place in our lives.  They could neither wrestle, shoot, nor climb, so we gave them little thought, and anything like actual flirtation was unknown—­we had so many better things in our heads.  Wrestling and other sports threw everything else into the shade.  Pretty Marie, however, probably suspected which of my school-mates I liked best, and up to the time of my leaving the institute I allowed no other goddess to rival her.  But there were plenty of amusements at Keilhau besides bird-shooting.

I will mention the principal ones which came during the year, for to describe them in regular order would be impossible.