WOLF-HUNTING

AND

WILD SPORT IN LOWER BRITTANY.

WOLF-HUNTING

AND

WILD SPORT IN LOWER BRITTANY.

" I have lived my life— I am nearly done—

I have played the game all round ;
But I freely admit that the best of my fun
I owe it to horse and hound." —

WHYTE MELVILLE,

BY THE AUTHOR OF

." PAUL PENDR/L/' * "'DARTMOOR "DAYS," &c., &c.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
BY COL. H. HOPE CREALOCKE, C.B.

CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY.

1875.

[All rights reserved.}

CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,
CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.

Sitbicattb,

TO

CHARLES TRELAWNY, ESQ.,

OF COLDRENNICK,

FOR UPWARDS OF THIRTY YEARS
MASTER OF FOXHOUNDS IN THE DARTMOOR COUNTRY;

A FRIEND, IN WHOSE GENIAL COMPANY,
AT HOME AND AFIELD,

THE AUTHOR HAS ENJOYED SOME OF THE HAPPIEST DAYS
OF HIS ilFE.

M1G5678

A 2

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE DEATH-STRUGGLE FRONTISPIECE.

" A stifled sound of mortal fray, mingled with sob, growling
and yells, followed ; it was the death-struggle of the gaunt, long-
toothed beast, overpowered by many foes."

A RIDE FOR DEAR LIFE .... To face page 24.

" My old hunting-whip now served me in good stead ; . . .
.... I stood up in my stirrups, and with all my force brought
the heavy thong down over the head and eyes of the leading wolf."

MARS To face page 49.

"He came to a fixed point, his head erect, his tail level with his
back, and his whole attitude worthy of Phidias' chisel."

A SAVAGE RUSH To face page 97.

" She again came at me with a savage rush. I had just time

to spring up and catch the friendly bough overhead ;

then drawing up my legs, she shot under me."

INTRODUCTION.

THE scene of the following papers, contributed in the
first place to " Baily's Magazine/' is chiefly confined to
the region of Cornouaille, in and around the Black
Mountains of Lower Brittany, where the Author resided
for two winters, and enjoyed the wild sport obtainable
in the surrounding forests.

The main features of the narrative may be relied
on ; but at the same time he wishes it to be distinctly
understood, in liminc, that, owing to the want of sufficient
records kept at the time, he has been compelled to
depend in some measure for its production both on
memory and fancy, twenty years having elapsed since
he paid his last visit to that interesting country.

x INTRODUCTION.

The dramatis persona, too, do not all bear their real
patronymics ; and where these have been given, as in
the case of M. de St. Prix and others, chiefly old com-
panions of the chase at home and abroad, the Author
ventures to hope the liberty he has so taken will be
considered a venial one by those gentlemen.

In proof that, as yet, the progress of civilisation has
not done much to diminish the fcrce naturce of Lower
Brittany, so far at least as the Wolf is concerned,
General Wm. Eden and his family, who were travelling
in Finisterre this last autumn (1874), have kindly
informed the Author that they saw, with no little
astonishment, five full-grown wolves and two foxes
exhibited in a cart and dragged triumphantly through
the streets of Ouimper, all having been killed at a
" grandc c/iasse" in that immediate neighbourhood.

This successful bag surpasses even that of the
sporting Lord Maire, introduced into a French play
some years ago. He enters the stage in red coat and
full hunting costume, puts down his gun (an old single-
barrel), and exclaims, " J'ai eu unc chasse super be ; fai
tuc mcs six renards ! "

This, of course, was an imaginary exploit ; but the

INTRODUCTION. xi

foregoing authentic account, given by General Eden,
encourages the belief that a good and sufficient stock
of rough game may still be found in the Brittany forests,
to attract the future hunter and gladden the Louvetier's
heart.

WOLF-HUNTING,

AND

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY.

CHAPTER I.

Vive la chasse !

Elle surpasse

Tous les plaisirs

Qui charment nos loisirs."

TELLIER'S Chansonnier du Chasseur.

THE hunting record of two winters — one of unusual severity —
passed in the Black Mountains of Brittany, among the wolves,
boars, and foxes of that forest land, may haply be interesting to
many who love wild sport, but scarcely know to what extent it
may be enjoyed in a country within so short a distance of our
own metropolis, and not even a twenty hours' journey from the
Hampshire coast. The rivers of Norway, once teeming with
salmon, have been fished bare by Anglo-Saxon rods ; while the
prairies of the Far West and the ravines of the Rocky Mountains
have been ransacked by hunters armed with Lancaster guns and
Eley's ammunition • but, if wild sport was the object, a fair share

2 WOLF-HUNTING.

of it might certainly be obtained at a far less cost of time, trouble,
and expense among the rough game of Lower Brittany.

Before entering, however, into details of the chasse, let me
endeavour to present the reader with a sketch of Carhaix and the
surrounding district, not a cover of which, within a certain dis-
tance of the town, but holds a fox, a wolf, or a tusky boar ; and
in some of them, such as those of Laz, Kcenig, and Kilvern, each
and all of those beasts, besides deer and smaller game, may
always be found. And yet this country, so near home, is far less
known by Englishmen than the jungles of Oudh or the wilds of
Namaqua Land.

Within two leagues of the trackless forests which cover the
Black Mountains of Brittany, and at a point where the confines
of the three departments of Morbihan, C6tes-du-Nord, and Finis-
terre are defined, stands the old Celtic city of Carhaix. A noble
cathedral of Gothic architecture, the work of English hands in the
sixteeth century, crowns the summit of the hill ; two hospices,
the one devoted to the spiritual, the other to the material wants
of the public, especially those of invalid soldiers, occupy a con-
spicuous position with their lofty and whitewashed walls ; and,
like other Breton towns, it has its Hotel de Ville, Gendarmerie,
and a respectable French hotel. A handsome bronze statue, the
chef (Tcetivre of Marochetti, is erected in the Champ de Bataille,
in honour of La Tour d'Auvergne, the premier grenadier of
France, and a native of Carhaix, who died gallantly on the battle-
field df Oberhausen in the year 1800. But the traveller must go
farther back than the present century to appreciate the merits of
Carhaix. Surrounded by woods, and, till lately, approached
only by a precipitous and rugged route, it stands on a high and
bold eminence overlooking the country far and wide, and by its
isolation seems to have bidden a successful defiance to the
inroads of commerce and civilisation. It is essentially a town
of past ages : just what it might have been, and probably was,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 3

fourteen hundred years ago, when the Romans expelled our
Celto-Breton ancestors at the point of the sword, and maintained
in its stronghold the head-quarters of their army.

The inhabitants of the more accessible towns of Brittany
imagine Carhaix and its environs to be a region of wolves and
savages, wild, fierce, and irreclaimable; but, after a long and
agreeable sojourn, passed in daily association with the peasantry,
I discovered nothing in them to warrant such a fancy ; but found
them, on the other hand, inoffensive, indolent, and scrupulously
honest, although in a state of squalor and poverty that beggars
description. It is a fact that the wandering Jew, who pervades
all climates, seeks no resting-place here -, here, poverty is every-
where too apparent, and scares him from the threshold with its
threadbare mien ; the waters of the Pactolus are wanting here to
tempt his thirsting soul; and he turns aside from granite rocks
and sterile wastes, from a soil that blooms with the bracken, the
broom, and the furze, from a people that are literally clad in
sackcloth and ashes, to wander on in search of other lands more
productive and less poverty-stricken, and consequently more con-
genial to his tastes and desires than old Armorica.

It is equally remarkable that gipsies are totally unknown in this
district ; the educated Bretons alone, who call them Bohemians,
being aware of their Ishmaelitish existence in other countries. Their
absence may be fairly attributed to one of two causes : either to the
persecution they have long endured from an ordonnance of the
States of Orleans, which enjoined that "all impostors and vagabonds,
styled Bohemians, should quit the kingdom under pain of the
galleys j" or, more probably, I think, to the impossibility of
defending their unhoused beasts from the attacks of wolves,
which, sometimes in pairs and sometimes in packs, according to
the severity of the weather, are a scourge to the whole country.
Is it a wonder, then, that between gendarmes by day and wolves
by night the gipsy shuns the danger? Our own laws are not

4 WOLF-HUNTING.

favourable to the vagrants, but they find means to evade them in
England, and would doubtless do so in Finisterre, if the gaunt
wolves, hungry and devastating, and coming as they do in the
gloom and darkness of night, did not strike terror to their
souls.

For many a league round the city of Carhaix the poorer pea-
sants occupy but one wretched cabin in company, if they are
lucky enough to have them, with their pig and cow. A child of
the tender age of five or six years is deemed, and is, I am con-
vinced, a sufficient protection to the flock by day ; for it was by
no means an uncommon thing for me, in my hunting excursions,
suddenly to come upon a mere infant in charge of a little black
sheep or dwarf cow, in the deepest recesses of a forest or wild
broom field, and at the next moment to start and reassure myself
on seeing the fresh and unmistakable print of a huge wolfs foot
impressed on the clay before me. So long as daylight lasts the
child is safe, and so is the flock, for the cowardly villain will not
venture to approach them ; but the moment the sun sets he
skulks from his lair, and at once becomes a daring and destructive
enemy ; the very houses of the peasantry are not then secure from
his attack.

The family of a peasant, consisting of his wife and frequently
several children, live huddled together in one dark cabin in a
state of indescribable filth and misery. The cabin is built with
mud or stone and thatched with broom ; a small aperture is left
in the upper part of the door to admit air and light ; while, the
fire being kindled, the smoke oozes out as it can through all parts
of the roof, and the whole cabin resembles at a distance a huge
charcoal heap in an active state of combustion. In nooks of the
wall, as high up as the building will admit, rude berths are con-
structed, which serve the purpose of beds, the means of access to
which, from their lofty position and square contracted entrance,
rather resemble the contrivance of a jackdaw's brain than that of

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 5

a human being. Still, the high perch and the narrow aperture
have their advantages, though at first sight the stranger would be
puzzled to know how ; but let him cast his eye upon the floor of
the house, and he will see that the pig, the black sheep, and the
little black cow wallow in a mire of Augean filth, if not of magni-
tude. On inquiry, too, he will find that, ever and anon, the wolf
not only knocks at the door, but walks in ; that, if he cannot gain
admittance by fair means he. will by foul ; he scratches a hole in
the broom roof, and, bailiff-like, descends upon his victims. This
is no imaginary danger; the thing has occurred over and over
again to the Sabottiers of Dualt and Huel-goed, vast forests in the
neighbourhood of Carhaix. The garde-du-foret of the former, a
fine intelligent Breton, pointed out to me a spot in which he said
a " wolf tragedy " had occurred within the last two years.

Before, however, I narrate the story, which I will endeavour
to do in the garde's own words, I will presume on the reader's
indulgence, and describe as concisely as I can the Forest of
Dualt. As its name implies in the Breton and Welsh language
" black rock," it is, indeed, one pile of granite tors, far wilder and
more imposing than those of Dartmoor, rising one above the
other in endless variety ; huge solitary slabs standing, like giants
on guard, in an upright and menacing attitude ; while others form
cromlechs and dolmens, under which a she-wolf might lay up her
young, or a Druid deposit the last relics of his race. As we sat
together on a block of sparkling granite, the garde, Frangois
Postollec, called my attention to a Sabottier's cabin built upon the
edge of a clump of beech-trees, and surrounded, like Robinson
Crusoe's hut, with a strong stake fence.

" Ah, well, poor Antoine needs those barriers," said he, " for
the wolves have robbed him already, and they'll rob him again
this winter, I fear, in spite of his palisade."

" What ! " cried I, " are the wolves so daring as to attack a
man's dwelling-place ? "

6 WOLF-HUNTING.

" Attack it ! " said he ; "a hungry wolf, like a wicked man,
has no conscience when the night favours him. It was only last
January that they carried off or killed every live animal he
possessed. A heavy snow-storm had fallen on the mountains,
and for several nights in succession a pack of five or six wolves
kept sentry at Antoine's hut, pacing round it, and uttering the
most dismal howls. Antoine and his wife, however, were deter-
mined to save their little stock ; they lighted a good fire, and sat
up by turns to keep it burning; but at length, on a dark and
tempestuous night, when the wind was whistling and the hail,
beating against their door, exhausted by watching, they both
dropped asleep, and the wood fire soon became extinguished. At
that instant a desperate rush was heard in the roof ; and before
Antoine could arm himself with a pike, five gaunt wolves dashed
in upon the floor one after the other, and, seizing his three sheep,
tore and devoured them in his presence. A little dog, too, which
they valued above all, was snapped up and swallowed at a gulp.
Antoine is a brave man, but his heart beat audibly as, from his
bed, he stretched out his hands to strike a light ; the flint and
steel were true, the resin-candle was quickly ignited, and, almost
as rapidly as they had entered, the villains sprung over an old
armoire, and disappeared through the roof. They come and go
like a hurricane," added he, " and, like it, leave desolation behind
them/'

Wolves in England are a mere tradition of the Heptarchy;
but in this mountain tract of Brittany they still abound ; nor, until
the country is reclaimed from its present condition of heath and
woods, will it be possible to dislodge them from the fastnesses in
which they now skulk and which they claim as their own. En*
the beast of the present day is a cowardly one, compared with
that of former times. During the War of the League, a period of
desolation and brigandage throughout that region, we are told by
the old chronicler, in fearfully vivid language, that the wolves got

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY.

the upper hand of men, and absolutely hunted them into the very
towns. The belief in the Loup-garou or demon-wolf is still a
prevailing superstition among the Breton peasantry ; and many a
tale is told over their wood embers of the human suffering and
bloodshed caused by that ferocious brute. Times, however, have
changed for the better in that respect. Man, instead of being
hunted himself, now hunts the wolf in that country with consider-
able success. His grand, old-fashioned, wire-haired hounds,
trained to the scent, rouse him from his lair ; and the hunter,
well-mounted and armed with a carbine or smooth-bore at his
saddle-bow, heads him at down-wind points of the chase, and
drops him with a ball.

It is only during a long-continued season of snow that the
wolf, pinched by hunger, hardens his heart, and becomes at once
both a daring and destructive brute. At such a time it has been
found necessary to light fires nightly at all the road entrances into
Carhaix, Callac, Gourin, Rostrenan, and other small towns in that
vicinity, in order to save the cattle and even the dogs from the
rapacity of the hungry wolves. Two or three wolves will tear and
eat up the latter, no matter of what size, as rapidly as a pack of
foxhounds will dispatch a wild fox.

It was a wet, stormy morning in November, an hour at least
before daybreak, when the Count de St. Prix rung out a blast on
his horn in the streets of Carhaix that made the window-frames of
the old town rattle in their sockets ; and scarcely had the echoes
of its last-prolonged note died on the ear, when a wild response
from other horns in the distance repeated the glad summons, and
invited all, who were disposed to come, away to the chase. St.
Prix, on whom the rulers of France had long conferred the
honourable office of Louvetier or wolf-hunter for Lower Brittany
— in this case the right man in the right place — had arrived at
the Hotel La Tour d' Auvergne on the previous night ; and, as I
had been introduced to him by my old friend the Baron de

8 WOLF-HUNTING.

Keryfan, we soon fraternized together as fellow-worshippers of
Diana — men of kindred feeling and like sympathy.

From him I gleaned that a wolf infesting the covers of Ker-
gloff had of late become unusually destructive to the poor peasant's
cattle, and had, even in daylight, snatched up many a country cur
before the very face of its owner. Consequently such strong
representations had been made by the Mayor of the Commune to
him, as Louvetier, that, notwithstanding his experience told him
at once it was a she-wolf, with a litter hard by, he deemed it
expedient to bring his hounds to the spot, and make a show at
least of hunting, and, if possible, of driving the destructive beast
from that district. To kill her, however, he had no intention ;
indeed, his solicitude for a she-wolf is quite equal, if it does not
surpass, that of the most zealous fox-preserver, who, when he sees
hounds running short in April, is on tenter-hooks for the safety of
what he has reason to believe is a little vixen.

But in this district St. Prix need not be so particular; the
wolves preserve themselves, and will continue to do so without
man's favour, so long as the vast granite tors and interminable
forests that now bristle over the backbone of Brittany can give
them so wide a range and so safe a retreat.

I had just finished my last touch of chin-tonsure, when
Keryfan, fully equipped for the chase, that is to say, picturesquely
attired in a goat-skin jacket, leggings of the same, and a huge
French horn slung over his back, burst into my room, chanting
a hunting song, and looking from head to foot far more like
Robinson Crusoe than a Breton gentleman.

" Ah," said he, taunting me good-humouredly, " you will
not see the rendezvous this day if you sacrifice so much time to
the Graces."

" Cleanliness is next to godliness," I remonstrated ; " let me
finish my wash, and I will be with you in ten minutes. In the

WILD SPORT IN 3RITTANY. 9

meantime, order a cup of coffee for me, do ; and ask Marseillier
to fill my holsters with bread, brandy, and cigars."

" I've stock enough for a dozen in mine," said Keryfan, who,
however wild in his passion for the chase, never neglected the
commissariat department either for himself or friends.

Another long twang from St. Prix's horn under my bed-room
window, and the impatient snort of his famous old Irish mare,
brought my toilet somewhat abruptly to a close ; and descending
to the porte-cochere, where three or four mounted chasseurs had
assembled, I was not a little shocked to find that I had been
detaining the whole party, St. Prix deeming it his duty, as a
matter of etiquette, to wait for a stranger especially invited,
and whom he intended himself to conduct to the rendezvous.

The hounds had been sent on the night before to M.
Trevenec's chateau, standing on the outskirts of Kergloff; so
we picked along merrily to the meet, Keryfan and St. Prix
incessantly smoking cigars, which, in spite of a strong wind and
heavy rain, they kept alight by common lucifer matches adroitly
ignited on their saddle-bows, and conveyed in the hollow of one
hand to the fragrant weed — a feat of legerdemain that, at the
pace we were going, Woudin himself would have been puzzled to
execute.

The ceremonious greeting, the bowing, the hat-lifting, and
even the cheek salutation that ensued between my companions
and the Breton gentlemen already assembled at the cover side,
was a sight I shall never forget — a scene it was worthy of Louis
Quatorze's court : I thought it would never end. Getting along-
side of Keryfan soon afterwards, I ventured, knowing my man
full well, to chaff him on the subject.

"You must not think I envy you, Keryfan, the hug you
received from that weather-beaten old gentleman. Why, he's as
wiry as a Scotch terrier, and hirsute as Esau himself."

io WOLF-HUNTING.

" C'est mon oncle, Frank," he responded, with perfect good-
humour, by way of explanation.

But I firmly believe he was no more his uncle than his aunt —
not he. There was a great deal too much ceremony between
them for so near a relationship.

Sixteen couple of hounds, wire-haired, but not rough, standing
four or five-and-twenty inches high, with plenty of bone for their
bulk, were held in couples on a plot of greensward hard by ;
while two keen-eyed peasants, acting as piqueurs, had each a
single hound in a long leash — the limiers of the chase. One of
the men, clad from head to foot in a brown goat-skin suit, gave a
cheering account of the game before us.

" I have tracked in," he said, " at least three, if not four, full-
grown wolves ; one, by his long claws, is an old wolf ; the rest I
think are cubs."

" And I," said the other, " have gone the circuit of KerglofF
twice, and will swear not a wolf has left the cover this day."

" Bravo ! " cried St. Prix ; " let go the limiers, and, Keryfan,
do you and your friend get down-wind with all speed ; and, hark
ye, if the old wolf breaks, let her go, and stop the hounds, or
she'll carry them to Llanderneau. We have a good day's work
before us, that's certain."

In one minute the limiers were throwing their tongues
vigorously and freely ; and, at a signal from St. Prix's horn, the
whole pack were at once uncoupled and clapped into cover. I
have heard " Jack Russell's " hounds find their fox in the rocky
depths of Hawkridge Wood ; and Mr. Trelawny's pack view theirs
among the cliffs of Skerraton, waking a thousand echoes with
their frantic tongues ; but never have I listened to such a crash
as that which now greeted my ears, and sent the blood whizzing
through my veins. Fancy sixteen couple of deep-mouthed hounds
uniting in one grand peal of music, and sending forth such a salvo
that, if the oaks of the forest were " listening oaks," as Horace

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. n

describes them,* they must have quivered to their heart's core.
Then the fanfare of horns might have been heard in High
Olympus, and must have struck mortal terror into every wolf
within a league's distance. A pair of ravens made themselves
scarce at once ; while the green wood-peckers, the magpies, and
the jays positively screeched with fear. It was the din of war —
a sylvan war, to be sure, but a bloody one for the wolves, as the
sequel will soon show.

For one hour the hounds ran as if glued to their game ; and
ever and anon a roebuck, on the wings of terror, bounded into
the open, less dreading the face of man than the storm in its rear ;
but as yet not a wolf had appeared beyond the cover's edge.
Talk of a fox's craftiness, I believe a wolf to be infinitely more
wary, more wily, and more ingenious than the other in the
presence of danger. Here were sixteen couple of high-couraged
hounds tearing the earth up in pursuit of a wolf, and failing to
force him beyond the precincts of his cover, the first line of his
defence.

At length away breaks the old one — she could stand it no
longer — and happily at a point where Keryfan was posted ; so he
dropped his rifle, took off his hunting cap, and gave the old jade
a rattling view holloa as she lopped speedily forward into the
open plain. St. Prix, had he the power, would have knighted
him on the spot. Then the hounds were turned, and, almost in
their first swing, they hit on the line of another wolf that had
evidently accompanied its dam to the very edge of the cover, but
dared not break away. Again, they were hard at him ; and soon
it became my turn to catch a view of the gaunt beast. I had
ridden about a hundred yards into the cover, and, posting myself
in an open space under a huge beech-tree, I listened with breath-
less delight to the cry, which I knew, from the hounds' tongues
being turned towards me, was getting nearer and nearer every

* " Auritas quercus ;" elegantly translated by Conington as "the listening oaks."

12 WOLF-HUNTING.

moment. I could hear my heart beat as the dry wood cracked
under the tread of the brute, now within twenty yards of my
horse's head ; but whether he caught a glimpse of me, or merely
from habit avoided the open space, he turned abruptly to the left,
and, at that instant, the balle-mariee of a peasant crashed through
both shoulders, and he rolled over like a rabbit head-foremost
into the scrub.

Then there was a grand " mort " sounded by the horns, in
which the hounds, after worrying the wolf, joined in wild strain
their paeans of triumph over the fallen foe. The brute was a
full-grown one ; and nothing surprised me more than the dis-
proportion between him and the biggest hound in point of bone
and power ; the arm just below the elbow was nearly double the
size of the other, while his canine teeth, when extracted, measured
more than two inches in length, and were so strong and keen that
a horse would stand but a poor chance when seized in the throat
by such weapons.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 13

CHAPTER II.

THE worry was soon over; and then commenced the business
of securing the wolf across a horse's back and despatching
him to the Mayor of the Commune, who keeps a kind of
death-register, and by his certificate enables the Louvetier to
draw the Government reward — thirty francs for a male, and
fifty for a she-wolf: happily, as St. Prix whispered to me, in
this case it was the smaller sum. But it was no trifling task
compelling the horse, though nothing better than a half-starved
mountain pony, to submit to the burden ; the dread of his
natural enemy, though lying inanimate at his feet, no power
could overcome. He seemed frantic with fear, snorted, plunged,
kicked, and finally threw himself on the ground. In that
position half-a-dozen Bretons were on him at once; and, strap-
ping the gaunt beast athwart his back, they soon kicked him
on his legs again ; he then walked quietly off with the odious
burden.

It was now just twelve o'clock; "plenty of time," as St.
Prix said, " to kill another wolf." His blood was up for sport ;
and I could see by the way he scrutinised the condition of his
hounds that he was quite satisfied they at least were ready for
any further work they might be called upon to do. So he
gave the word, " To the Monument of Botderu." This, I soon
found, was the favourite rendezvous, the prime meet of the

14 WOLF-HUNTING.

wolf-hunters in the Forest of Conveau, a wild and desolate
spot, far removed from human habitation, and at the far end
of the chain of covers in which we had killed our wolf. The
country, so far as the eye could reach, was one vast forest of
rock, scrub, and heather ; the last waist-deep, and affording a
rare cover for the wolves, foxes, and deer that frequent it.

A narrow path, hollowed out by the sabots of the charcoal-
burners, soon brought us to the appointed spot ; and here a
handsome granite pillar, surmounted by a cross and tastefully
enclosed by a belt of planted oak and Austrian pine, the only
indication of man's hand for miles around, decorated the lonely
scene. The monument had been erected to the memory of a
famous chasseur, and bore' on one of its four sides the following
inscription :

"A la Memoire du Comte du Botderu, Pair de France,
le Nimrod de nos Forets."

On the opposite side was inscribed, "Rendezvous de Chasse,"
while the two other corresponding tablets of the square monu-
ment bore the shields and arms of the Botderu family.

St. Prix, who knows the habits of a wolf as well as the Duke
of Beaufort and Henry Deacon know those of a fox — and without
this knowledge the hope of pursuing the wild animal with success
is ever a vain one — had rightly conjectured that, if there were
more wolves than one in company with the old beast, they would
at once be scared from the quarter in which they were roused
and would travel in an opposite direction, to the extreme end of
the chain of covers. So, lifting his hounds quietly to the highest
point of the ridge, he clapped them into cover, and with a wave
of the hand and a stirring cheer every hound dashed from his
horse's heels into the heart of the woodland range.

When old Will Butler, formerly the famous huntsman of the
Badsworth pack, wanted blood for his puppies in the cub-hunting

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 15

season, and this without over-working and thereby damping their
ardour, he was wont to find his litter at break of day ; and, after
a short scurry, long enough to scatter the cubs and set them
" a-travelling," he blew his horn at the first lull and stopped his
hounds. He then pottered about for an hour or more in the
green pastures, as if he were looking for mushrooms, but quietly
eating his frugal breakfast as he gossipped about his " entry,"

" You see, sir," he would say, " those cubs have been a-going
hard ever since we moved them, but they won't leave the cover ;
and when we fresh find them at t'other side they will be more
than half-beat, and we all the better for our rest."

These tactics were almost invariably successful ; Will killed
his cub without over-straining his puppies, and often a brace of
cubs before the dew was off the grass.

This was precisely St. Prix's move on the present occasion ;
five minutes had certainly not elapsed before the hounds were
once more in full chase, the cry from the rocks above bursting on
the ear like a peal of heavy bells from a church tower. Again St.
Prix's horn sounded the signal "La vue;" and instantly after-
wards, " Les animaux en compagnie ; " by which we all knew a
brace of wolves were on foot together. But they did not long
remain together ; the hounds were so hard at them that two lines
of scent was the speedy result. The pack, as it happened, were
pretty evenly divided, and although one detachment held to the
ridge and long heather above, and the other cracked away
through the deep cover below, both maintained a parallel course
for a distance of nearly five miles, going straight back again for
the cover in which the wolves were first found.

So good was the pace, too, that the best-mounted chasseurs
utterly failed to head the chase and get a glimpse at the wolves
as they crossed the few open glades that intervened between the
covers ; all of which were as well known to Keryfan and others as
the avenues of the Bois de Boulogne. St. Prix alone carried no

1 6 WOLF-HUNTING.

fusil ; his weapon, a long old-fashioned couteau-de-chasse, hung in
a leather scabbard over his left hip ; a reserve he had often found
useful in close quarters with stag and boar at bay, and which now
neither impeded his movements nor induced him to quit his place
in the management of his hounds.

Crack, crack ! went a roaring smooth-bore not a hundred yards
in front, but below me in the cover ; and at the same time the
heavy slugs from a braconnier's piece came whistling through the
air, cutting the bushes right and left writhin a yard or two of my
horse's head, but luckily missing both of us ; he had killed the
wolf, however, and the music of one pack ceased at once. They
were close upon their game, and would probably have pulled it
down in a few minutes if the braconnier had not interfered. It
was a fine full-grown young wolf; but I could see St. Prix was
not a little disconcerted at the termination of its existence by the
peasant's gun. He had reckoned with good reason on fairly run-
ning into him, and wished especially to show me that his powerful
hounds, unaided by the fusil, were of themselves able to accom-
plish the feat.

But St. Prix's vexation was transient as a passing cloud : the
other pack had turned when the double shot was fired by the
braconnier, and were, as my dear old friend "Jack Russell"
would say, swearing hard words at the villain before them. In
less than five minutes St. Prix had thrown in at their head the
seven or eight couple that followed his horse, and again the old
forest rung with the grand music of the united pack.

Short turns, indicative of short wind, speedily followed, and as
the cover consisted chiefly of thick, matted underwood, the hounds
had it all to themselves, without a chance of losing their laurels by
an untoward shot. Suddenly the cry ceased ; and a stifled sound
of mortal fray, mingled with sob, growling, and yells, followed ;
it was the death-struggle of the gaunt, long-toothed beast, over-
powered by many foes St. Prix's delight was unbounded as two

WILD SPORT 'IN BRITTANY. 17

piqueurs, taking the wolf by the hind legs, dragged him into an
open space ; no mean effort of strength, by-the-bye, inasmuch as
two couple of hounds, at least, were hanging on to the wolf's
throat with the grip of a blacksmith's vice.

A finer woodland run and a more satisfactory finish it would
be difficult to conceive j the hounds did their work nobly, and St.
Prix handled them as if he had made, as he has done, the habits
of the wolf and the instinct of the hound the study of his life.
Congratulations poured in upon him thickly ; and well might he
be proud of the day's success. But, alas ! there was another
side to the happy picture on which he was feasting his soul : two
or three of his leading hounds had been seriously injured in the
last struggle ; one, bitten across the loins, trailed his hind legs
after him, a paralyzed and piteous object to behold ; the other
limped along with her fore-leg broken at the elbow ; the wolf's
teeth had crushed the bone, as a boy's would an Oliver biscuit ;
the shattered bits absolutely rattled as the poor hound hobbled
forward to lick her master's hand and claim the sympathy she so
well deserved.

" Ah, Ravisante," he said, despondingly, " is this thy sad fate
at last? Far rather would I have lost any hound in my pack
than thee, my old companion and true ally."

It is no figure of speech to say that St. Prix's eyes were
brimming with tears as he turned away from the painful sight.
Keryfan then stepped forward, and conferring with him a minute
or so, a piqueur was ordered to lead away gently the two disabled
hounds ; and, before the last wolf was secured to the back of the
terrified horse, destined to bear him to the Mairie, two distant
shots were heard in the cover below — the death-boom of those
gallant hounds.

It has been already remarked that these hounds were big,
powerful animals, wire-haired, deep-tongued, carrying a grand
head, and supported by plenty of bone ; yet, with these old-

c

i8 WOLF-HUNTING.

fashioned characteristics, and the total absence of any fox-hound
blood in their veins, I don't think I ever saw a harder-driving lot
in chase in my life. Above all, when, as will always happen in
cover-runs, a portion of the pack was ever and anon thrown out,
it was delightful to witness the struggle among them to fresh-
catch the scent, and the freedom from all fowling propensity
among the tail hounds.

Shall I be regarded as a Goth and a Vandal, if, in spite of the
worship paid to kennel-pedigree, long as that of " Bourbon or
Nassau," I venture to believe that the present gaiidy English
foxhound would be vastly improved for all hunting purposes,
and that too without extinguishing one spark of his dash and
ardour, if his mixed blood were again refreshed by the old
standard-hound blood, the sang piir of Lower Brittany? I say
" mixed blood," because unquestionably the present foxhound is
the result of a cross originally contrived between the smooth
terrier and the old-fashioned hound of this land in former days.

Were any master independent enough to resort to this ancient
stock-hound and invigorate his pack with the original, genuine
hound blood, it is the conviction of many experienced houndsmen
that better runs in all weathers would be obtained by such
mettle. We should then once more have hounds similar in
fashion to the old Beaufort badger-pies, carrying high crowns
and feathered sterns — noble hounds, that, no matter how wild
the weather, would hunt a fox to death inevitable so long
as he stood above ground before them ; or, if the scent
served, would kill him in an hour under any circumstances.
There are no such hounds in England now as there were in
the time of the sixth Duke. Even their colour — that long-
surviving relic of the old type — is all but lost — bred out and
banished by the black and tan, the more fashionable hue of
modern days.

But, as " every dog will have his day " — even Queen Eliza-

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 19

beth's pugs being again reproduced, and Dandie Dinmonts
rkchauff&d in every form save that of the true Davidson —
we may yet live to see the present gaudy hound renewed and
improved by the pure blood of some original, better-nosed, and
less flashy race. That more real sport, and a far finer display
of hound's work,

" On dusty road or tainted green,"

would be the sure result of such a revival, is the opinion, I repeat,
of many who, after a life of experience with hounds, have given
their judgment on this subject

" Three wolves in one day ; and the old dam driven into
the Forest of Coedmawr," said Keryfan, exultingly, to me. " A
slaughter that would have satisfied Edgar ; but one that, if I
mistake not, St. Prix would be sorry to indulge in too often."

" That I should quite expect/' I replied. " Your country may
abound with wolves ; but a too frequent recurrence of such a day
would doubtless soon thin it, and many a cover would be drawn
blank before the end of the season."

"True enough," said St. Prix, joining in the conversation.
"The forests are so extensive, and the wolf so suspicious of
danger, so shifty, and so erratic in his habits, especially after
this month, that an old one found to-day in Finisterre would
to-morrow be killing his mutton on the banks of the Loire ; so
we need have a good head of game, or our sport would soon
wane in this wild country. It is now exactly five years ago since
we last killed three wolves on the same day ; and, oddly enough,
we then lost a valuable hound called " Warrior," which was so
mutilated in the fray that we were compelled to destroy him on
the spot. He was a broken-haired Welsh hound, given me by an
English gentleman, and was the only exotic I ever owned that
took as readily as our own native hounds do to the scent of the
wolf and the wild boar. A better hound never entered a cover."

Then, knowing St. Prix to be a thorough houndsman, I

20 WOLF-HUNTING.

inquired what foreign hounds he had tried in wolf-hunting, and
what age they were when he had made the experiment.

" Your English foxhounds/' he replied, " young drafts of which
I obtained from some of your best kennels ; but, admirably
suited as they may be for the style of work required from them
in a comparatively open country like yours, they don't suit Brit-
tany. In the first place, they don't take to the scent as if the
wolf was their natural prey ; and, in the next, they want more
tongue to let us know where they are in these interminable
forests. Here we have no avenues, like those of St. Germain
or Fontainebleau — no royal road to hounds in chase ; so, with
an old wolf that will run straight on end for fifteen or twenty
leagues, holding to strong cover so long as he can find it, your
chance of living with hounds would be a very poor one if you
had not plenty of music to indicate the line. Again, young fox_
hounds are so given to riot that the difficulty of getting at them
with a whip in our deep covers is all but insuperable ; and, conse-
quently, more tractable and less wilful hounds suit our purpose
far better."

These, I owned, were indisputable reasons for the preference ;
and as St. Prix is justly proud of his own grand hounds, there
is little fear that, Legitimist as he is, he will ever consent to
mix the hybrid blood of our English foxhound with that of
his own pure and genuine race.

During the past night, and occasionally throughout the day,
heavy rain had been falling on the eastern ridge of the Black
Mountains ; and the brooks, as we crossed them on our home-
ward route, had swollen from mere rivulets into fierce and
dangerous torrents. The hounds, in many cases, were swept
headlong before them, and after a cruel buffeting managed to
land some fifty or sixty yards below the ford at which they
endeavoured to cross, and where the horses were just able to
hold their own and scramble through. At length we arrived

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 21

at a meadow completely inundated by a broad stream, that
foamed and tossed through the middle of it like the tail of a
mill-race ; the sheet of water, as it filled the valley from the
skirts of one wood to the other, was at least a hundred yards
wide, and stretched away for miles, as far as the eye could
reach, to the westward. One strong plank, resting upon trestles
high reared above the flood, was the sole structure by which
foot-passengers were enabled to cross from one side to the
other ; and in doing this they had to wade knee-deep across
the meadows ere they reached the bridge. But how on earth
were the horses, beaten and jaded as they were by a long day's
work, to meet the difficulty ? The bridge, if they could have
travelled on it, was inaccessible to them, from the rude ladder
by which it was mounted, and the stream far too violent for
any rider to keep his seat and steer his horse in safety to the
other side. St. Prix, however, was fully prepared for the
emergency, and shouting to a piqueur, he demanded a rope
which, to the length of eight or ten fathoms, that official
speedily procured from a peasant's hut close by — a coil reserved
there for this very purpose.

The bridle being removed from his own mare, and one end
of the rope secured as a halter to her head, he mounted the
bridge, and the sensible, well-schooled animal feeling her way
into the flood, he guided her across with as much ease as a
skilful fisherman would have guided a salmon to a shelving
bank, and there he landed her in safety. In like manner some
ten or a dozen horses were thus handled ; and by nightfall we
reached Carhaix and the Hotel La Tour d'Auvergne without
further adventure.

22 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER III.

THE old town of Carhaix kept wild wassail that night : the three
wolves, mounted aloft on the same miserable beasts that had
borne them so unwillingly from the battle-field, were paraded in
triumph through its crowded streets ; nor did Caractacus of yore,
led by the conquering legions of Claudius through the city of
Rome, inspire the inhabitants with greater joy than was felt by
the primitive people of Carhaix at the sight of their fallen foe.
Men, women, and children turned out en masse to catch a view of
the gaunt brutes, the progenitors of which had kept them from
youth to old age in a perpetual state of alarm and terror, and, in
spite of every precaution, had throttled their horses, devoured
their sheep, and even snatched up their favourite dogs before
their very eyes ! No wonder the old town rang with applause at
the noble conquest achieved by St. Prix ; no wonder they greeted
him with vivas as a conqueror returning from a victory, in which
every soul of that city was so deeply interested !

The chief medical man of the town, M. Bernard, a good
sportsman and a most intelligent man, who had accompanied the
French army in its expedition against the Kabyles, and had slain
the lion and the panther in their native wilds, confessed to me
that he had often been in far greater danger among wolves than
in the fiercest fights with those more powerful animals. " The
latter/' he said, " you encounter single-handed ; but an old wolf,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 23

with his family at his back, brings fearful odds against a horse
and his rider. If beset at any time, as I have frequently been
when on a professional visit to some poor peasant's cottage in the
heart of the forests, don't forget that your best weapon is a box of
lucifer matches : these, when ignited on your saddle-bow, will
scatter them at every flash like dust before the wind. I can
remembep, some four winters ago, I was roused at midnight, in
bitter weather, to give immediate attendance to a peasant's wife
living in the forest of Huel-goed : the case was an urgent one,
and delay would have been fatal ; so in ten minutes I was
dressed, mounted, and off to the poor sufferer's aid.

" I had scarcely ridden half a league from the town, before I
became aware, by the snorting of my mare, that a wolf was paying
rather more attention to both of us than the mare at least seemed
to think agreeable. One wolf, however, did not disturb me ; for,
as yet, but one had shown himself, springing ever and anon on
the hedge-bank within six feet of my head, and instantly dis-
appearing behind the fence as I cracked a fusee on my saddle-
bow. 1 spurred my mare into a quicker canter, and hoped by
the pace to choke off the pursuer ; but, so far from this being the
case, I soon found, as we sped by a broad gap in the fence, that
not only was he holding his own, head and head with the mare,
but that four other wolves were close on his quarters, joining
hard in the chase. In another second two of the brutes again
bounded on the hedge-bank ; and, growing bolder as the chase
grew hotter, kept stride and stride with us so closely that I could
absolutely smell the breath of the brutes as it tainted the night
air. The Brittany lanes, as you well know, are simply tunnels
hollowed out of the land, and flanked on either side by high,
broad banks, from the top of which the wolves with ravenous eyes
were now looking down upon us, measuring my strength and the
mare's probable endurance. Had she fallen or even stumbled in
her gait, the pack would have been on us with one bound ; but,

24 WOLF-HUNTING.

luckily, the little mare was safe as Notre Dame ; and I took care
to keep the lucifers going, flashing them in their faces, and
frightening the skulking brutes, ever as I did so, into the adjoin-
ing field.

" For two long leagues," continued the doctor, " did \ve
travel on in this perilous fashion ; till at length I began to fear
the mare would drop from exhaustion. She had been going,
from the first, fetlock-deep in clay, and was now so terrified by
the wolves that any unusual impediment would, I felt sure,
bring her headlong to the ground. My lucifers, too, were
running short; and as I had a good half-league farther to ride,
I economised my stock by only flashing single matches, and
that, too, when more than one wolf traversed the bank in such
dangerous proximity. My Old hunting-whip now served me in
good stead : hitherto I had carried it between my thigh and
the saddle, but drawing it forth, I stood up in my stirrups, and
with all my force brought the heavy thong down over the head
and eyes of the leading wolf. The success of this manoeuvre
was instantaneous ; not another wolf dared show again till I
reached in safety the peasant's hut, into which I rode the little
mare with a thankful heart. No fox ever gained his earth more
opportunely, for another ten minutes must have been fatal at
least to the mare.

" The cowardly brutes, however, though baffled, were not
beaten. There they still were, watching the hut and prowling
around it with dismal yells, denoting their disappointment. So
I deemed it prudent to carry a mass of burning embers just
outside the door and to feed that until daybreak; and this
alone, I am quite confident, kept them off the broom-roof and
saved my little mare from certain destruction."

When the doctor had finished his story, I inquired how the
poor peasant had fared on his return from Carhaix, unarmed as
he was, and unfurnished probably even with a box of matches.

• *t;' 1

• -Z.} f A * V * x

^.—- s vv:'^

.^- = V, ' J

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 25

" Oh, he would be safe enough," said the doctor ; " it was
the mare was the attraction ; and only in case of our being
down together would my life have been in danger. In Brittany
at least, no matter what their numbers nor what their need,
they never attack a human being, great or small, by day or night.
Man's dominion, given him by the Creator, is paramount here."

I was fortunate enough that night to sit next to the Count
de Kergoorlas at dinner ; and hearing he was a master of wolf-
hounds in Upper Brittany, I gleaned from him some interesting
information with respect to the style of hound he considered
best adapted for his particular sport.

"A big, bold, broken-haired hound is what I keep for the
work ; and occasionally I invigorate the race," said he, " with
a strain of wolf-blood."

"And how, pray," I inquired, "do you manage that?"

"Nothing is more simple. The dog and the wolf being
congeners they breed readily together ; nor does the law affecting
mules affect the hybrid race, as the offspring of the first cross
reproduce their litters with the same facility. I keep a dog-wolf
brought up by hand ; and he, suckled in infancy by a hound
dam, lives in perfect concord with any hounds I think fit to
enclose with him in his kennel ; while a day or two reconciles
a strange hound to his company."

" And do you find the first cross," I asked, " as manageable
in chase as your ordinary hounds?"

" Far from it," he replied ; " insomuch that I only keep that
produce to breed from. They usually run mute or all but mute,
and are so self-willed in chase and so fierce in kennel, that I
merely use them as stud hounds, and enter the second cross.
These, the grand-offspring of the wolf, become rare wolf-hounds,
fierce, fine-nosed, desperate in chase, and never tiring during
the longest day. But, to be candid, they have one great fault :
they are too shy of their tongue ; nor can this defect be bred

26 WOLF-HUNTING.

out for several generations, although tonguey hounds are
especially chosen for the purpose of every cross. The old
nature of the wolf appears and reappears, and no device of
human ingenuity can pitchfork it away."

I have since learned in my own country, from that keen and
experienced sportsman, Mr. Waldron Hill, who brought over
several couples of these hybrid hounds from the Department of
Eure, and whose object it was to enter them as otter-hounds,
that they had at least one other fault, which he found utterly in-
eradicable, in fact, the old wolf coming out again in them.
They would kill sheep ; and, as he justly remarked, that to
hunt the sheep was a far more expensive amusement than
hunting the otter, he hanged the whole of them. In the Count's
country, however, this vice would not be observable, as there
flocks of sheep are not found depastured abroad and roaming
at will on a thousand hills, as in this more favoured land.

For the next two days, after the triple kill at Conveau, St. Prix
deemed it advisable to give his hounds perfect rest ; so, in order
to employ the time more profitably than in frequenting Madame
Laurent's cafe and billiard rooms, St. Prix, Kergoorlas, Keryfan,
and myself formed a shooting party, and arranged to sally forth
in search of woodcocks to the Pencoet and Ty-meur covers, all
within two leagues and a half of the town of Carhaix, on the
following morning.

In spite of Admiral O'Grady's advice at whist, " never to look
back too much into futurity," I am tempted to make a backward
cast with respect to the wolf-hunting, as before detailed. The
sport, as I have already said, was good as it could well be;
the hounds admirably suited for the work, and the "field" as
ardent and practical a set of men as I ever wish to meet at
a cover-side. It was, however, at first impossible for me to
reconcile the system of riding to a glorious pack of hounds,
armed as each man was with a double " smooth-bore," with the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 27

simpler style of chase adopted in our own country. It is quite
true the wolf differs from the fox in the magnitude of the
mischief he is capable of perpetrating, when plundering or
pursued : the one is a pettifogging pickpocket, worrying old
women and gamekeepers only, while the other is a brigand on
a big scale, doing murder in bands, and bringing heavy loss and
dismay to whole communities. The fox is hunted for sport
alone; the wolf for the public weal; though, it must be
admitted, St. Prix and his friends manage to include with that
a vast amount of sport into the bargain.

A Breton chasseur would as soon think of riding to hounds
without his saddle as without his gun ; with him it is a " vade
mecum," whether he pursues the hare or the roe-deer, the wolf or
the grisly boar.

Not long ago, that prince of men, Lord Palmerston, was
entertaining a dinner-party at Cambridge House, and amused his
guests with an anecdote characteristic of this Breton and French
practice. "Last season/' said he, <;a well-known French
diplomatist did me the honour to pay me a fortnight's visit at
Broadlands; and before he left, having enjoyed two or three
days' fox-hunting in the neighbourhood, he expressed a wish to
have his portrait taken as an English chasseur, and consulted me
as to the artist he should employ for the work.

" ' Frank Grant,' said I, ' is your man ; he understands horses ;
and, from always being in good company, his portraits look like
those of gentlemen and ladies.'

" So Frank Grant was invited to Broadlands, when the follow-
ing conversation ensued between them : —

" ' And how,' inquired that eminent artist, ' do you wish to be
painted?'

" ' Je me ferai peindre en chasseur Anglais ; le fusil a 1'epaule ;
a ma droite mon fidele chien ; a ma gauche un renard mort,'
answered the Diplomat, with the utmost gravity.

28 WOLF-HUNTING.

" I expected," said Lord Palmerston, " at least to see a twitch
of mirth on Grant's countenance ; but he was too well bred for
that; he quietly remarked that the hound and fox would do
admirably, but that the gun would be unsuitable for the
picture."*

When the Count de Kergoorlas' drag drove to the door of the
Hotel La Tour d'Auvergne the clock struck seven, and at that
early hour in a November morning every one was astir in the
house, and even in the streets of Carhaix. Whatever may be
thought of French morals in general, those of rising early in the
morning are, unquestionably, habitual to them; and that, too, not
among the ouvriers only, and those on whom the labour of life
falls heaviest, but among the higher classes of the community.
It was barely dawn ; grey, cold, and comfortless ; and yet there
sat Kergoorlas on his box, looking as cheerful and as happy as if
he were going to drive a party of pretty girls to a summer fete in
the forest of St. Germain.

" Mount, mount," said he, " the horses are longing for the
road ; and the braconniers of Carhaix will catch the first flight of
woodcocks if we delay our departure much longer."

I was happy to feel that, on this occasion, I was not the
delinquent; St. Prix had been gone an hour to his kennel, in
order to examine the hounds after their work of yesterday, and
had not yet returned. As I approached the drag, I ran my eye
hastily over the team that stood, to all appearance, in no hurry
for a start; though, to judge by the way in which four Breton
peasants held each horse by the head, there was evidently some
misgiving in Kergoorlas' mind as to the steadiness of the whole
lot. A few minutes later St. Prix joined us, and, on mounting

* The above story is substantially correct ; but, since its first publication, the author has
been kindly informed by Lord Aberdare, to whom Lord Palmerston related it, that the
French Anglomane was M. Charles de Mornay, and Lord Alvanley the man whom he
consulted as to the painter ; moreover, that the circumstance occurred soon after the
restoration of 1815, when Sir Francis Grant had not long escaped from his petticoats.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 29

to the vacant seat on the box, Kergoorlas, with a lively crack of
his whip, ordered the peasants to " let them go ;" and immediately
such a scene as I never witnessed before, and hope never to
witness again, ensued on that granite road ; the near wheeler,
on hearing the whip cracked, made a plunge forward, broke the
rope traces, and came head and legs in and on the near leader's
flanks ; an intrusion that instantly set both leaders a kicking so
viciously, that it appeared to me a miracle how the forelegs and
skulls of the wheelers remained unsmashed by the assault. How-
ever, Kergoorlas, who sat on his box with the most perfect sang-
froid, as if he had been accustomed to such antics from his
cradle, held on by the reins, and plied the whip vigorously ; and
notwithstanding the near-wheeler, now held by the pole-chain
alone, continued his frantic plunges in the air, he got the whole
team into forward action, and steadied his coach through narrow
streets and .by protruding shop-windows with a precision never
to be forgotten.

" The speed of the Tantivy trot," in former days, was that of a
donkey's gallop compared with the pace at which our team
descended the hill from Carhaix to the Roman Bridge below;
and nothing but the iron arm and steady nerve of the Count de
Kergoorlas, backed up by the mecanique hard-turned upon both
hind wheels, saved our imperilled bones. The " yawing " of the
coach, high slung upon its wheels — not a patent-safety one of
modern invention — -as it reeled over the narrow road, bounded on
one side by a quarry, and on the other by a precipice, the near-
wheeler still plunging and kicking his shoes off, would have
staggered many a man of the O.B.C., and inevitably brought him
to grief; but Kergoorlas never for one moment seemed to lose
his presence of mind, proving himself indeed to be

"A daring pilot in extremity."
Beyond the bridge, crossed at a gallop, but crossed safely,

30 WOLF-HUNTING.

Kergoorlas got the first pull at his team, and brought them up in
steadier form at the foot of the following hill. New trace-ropes
were then substituted for the broken ones, and the remainder of
the journey to Ty-meur passed off most pleasantly.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 31

CHAPTER IV.

THE covers of Ty-meur, in Finisterre, are, perhaps, as favourable
for woodcocks and woodcock-shooting as any in Lower Brittany.
Its alder-beds and oak-copses, abounding with holly, are fringed
with narrow water-meadows ; and if, here and there, an occasional
black bog, devoid of all growth, compels the chasseur to wade
knee-deep in its mire, it affords rare feeding for cock and snipe,
as well as open ground, to catch them when they rise in the
adjoining covers. In many respects there is a great similarity
between the glades of Finisterre and the coombes of Devon ; and
were it not for the occasional appearance of a Breton peasant
dressed in antique and quaint costume, or of a tethered black and
white cow, indicating by its diminutive stature the poverty of the
land, a Devonshire man in Lower Brittany might fancy himself
wandering among the hollow vales and hanging woods of his own
unrivalled county. The broad banks enclosing mere strips of
pasture, and unnegotiable by any horse less favoured than
Pegasus, the vegetation of the valleys, the sparkling brooks
alive with trout, and doing the duty of irrigation in every mea-
dow, are precisely what he sees at home : but the moment he
ascends to the hill-tops or table-land, where it can be said to
exist, the country in general is an uncultivated wilderness, over-
grown with timber, broom, furze, and heather ; less wild, perhaps,
than the Forest of Dartmoor, but serrated, as it is, with vast

32 WOLF-HUNTING.

11 clitters " of rock and granite tors. No finer cover in the world
for the plunderers that frequent it, the fox, the wolf, and the tusky
boar.

But our business, at present, is with the woodcock ; and as,
during the late full moon, a cold easterly wind, with a point of
north in it, had prevailed, large flights were known to have
arrived in the neighbourhood, the best covers of which were
unquestionably those of Ty-meur and the adjoining district ; so
we fully anticipated a fine day's sport. The proprietor of the
estate being a wealthy banker, resident at Brest, we were received
at the grand old chateau by a Breton garde-du-bois, left in charge
of it and the woods, and apparently the whole property. A
greater ruffian I certainly never encountered in Brittany, where
the peasantry are usually a quiet, well-conducted set of men ; but
this fellow, at nine o'clock a.m., was so drunk and so dangerous,
that he several times fell head foremost, loaded gun and all, into
the midst of our dogs, and, on recovering his feet, used the
grossest language my ears ever listened to.

I am not strait-laced, nor a very nervous subject, but candidly
own the prospect of being accompanied by this garde-du-bois
filled my mind with apprehension and disgust : the chance of
being potted like a partridge was not a pleasant one, but the
brutality of his conduct was far less endurable. Our party of four
guns being divided into two lots, Kergoorlas and St. Prix going
in one direction, and Keryfan and myself in another, the Breton
garde-du-bois constituted himself my guide — for metallic reasons,
of course, as every Englishman is believed to be a travelling
Croesus ; but, as he affirmed, for the purpose of showing the
stranger the most favoured cock-ground in the Ty-meur covers.
My mortification at this arrangement I can scarcely describe ;
but, although I did my best to conceal it, St. Prix saw at a glance
what my feelings were in the matter.

" See you," said he, calling me on one side, " yonder knoll in

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 33

the fir trees ? Close below it is a small wayside auberge ; you
have only to take that beast within sight of the mistletoe-bush
hanging over its door, and you'll dispose of him for the rest of
the day."

Thanking him for the hint, I resolved to profit by it, and cut
the incumbrance adrift with the least possible delay; so I sig-
nalled to Keryfan, and whistling at the same time to my spaniels,
two brace of which I had brought with me from England, we
entered a long hollow oak and holly cover, and, beating as we
went, made our way straight for the knoll ; a course that, appa-
rently, seemed to be quite in unison with the views of the
garde.-du-bois. Before we arrived at that point, however, the
spaniels had flushed some fifteen or twenty cocks, out of which
we only managed to bag six ; indeed, the chance of our getting
even so many was greatly against the guns, as the garde had
brought with him a brace of wild setters, utterly unbroken, and
regardless of all control. These, leading the spaniels to riot,
ranged madly through the cover about a hundred yards ahead of
us. In vain their master swore, kicked them with his heavy
sabots, and at length fired after and into1 them, until they howled
with agony; and in vain Keryfan and myself remonstrated
loudly, and begged him to couple them up, and take them
back to their kennel, as they were only spoiling the sport of
the day ; to which he ever replied, with an appeal to the sacred
mother, " Curse the mongrels ; they'll be quiet enough shortly,
and then they'll find more cocks than all your spaniels would
in a week."

Keryfan at length nudged my elbow and said, " It's no use,
Frank, we are only wasting our words ; let us get on to the
auberge as fast as we can ; that is our best chance now."

" Yes," I replied, " or our spaniels will be ruined as well as
the sport ; but it's my firm conviction the fellow is more knave
than fool, and has brought out these dogs on purpose to save his

D

34 WOLF-HUNTING.

woodcocks for another day. He is evidently not so drunk as he
pretends to be."

A few more cocks, which, ever and anon, passed overhead in
wild flight backwards, fell to our guns before we reached the
auberge, into which the garde led the way, swearing he was so
thirsty he should become a corpse if he did not sustain his
sinking nature with something to drink. Without calling for his
liquor, however, he cast himself at full length among the dry
heather that lay in the chimney corner ; and, taking off his huge
sabots, both ends of which were shod with iron, he threw them
savagely at a pig's head that was quietly stretched on the opposite
side of the hearth, enjoying the heat of the smouldering embers
with perfect felicity. A piercing scream from the pig, whose head
quivered as if at least one eye had been knocked out, instantly
roused the indignant wrath of the aubergiste, who, seizing a
cudgel by the small end, as the Bretons usually carry it, sprang
like a tiger on the garde-du-bois, snatched away his fowling-piece,
and then dealt him two or three tremendous whacks over his
shoulders that must have left their mark there for many a day.
In a moment the garde was upon his legs, closing with his adver-
sary ; but, like Roderic Dhu without his targe, he was powerless
without his sabots, a Breton's chief weapons of offence in every
such struggle ; the aubergiste kicking him in the shins and twist-
ing him by the collar, as a Cornishman " at play " would do,
threw him once more prostrate to the ground • as fair a back-fall
as a " stickler " ever witnessed. Had they been rival Irish
peasants meeting at Donnybrook, their pugnacious ferocity could
scarcely have been stronger ; for no sooner was the garde floored
than, like Antaeus, he sprang again to his legs, and, this time,
made a dash into the aubergiste, and gripped him fiercely by the
throat.

Murder must have been the result speedily, if Keryfan and I
had not now interposed. We dragged them asunder with great

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 35

difficulty j and it was not till I had tossed down a five-franc piece,
and ordered the aubergiste to produce a bottle of " Bordeaux " (I
might as well have asked for Jove's nectar), that the sense of self-
interest diverted his wrath ; while, at the same time, the demand
for wine excited the thirsty appetite of the sorely-bruised garde -
du-bois. But wine alone, such as it was, did not satisfy the
latter. He called loudly for a chopine of cider, with a goutte of
eau-de-vie to qualify and warm that harsher liquor ; and six
successive chopines of the mixture did he gulp down in the space
of a few minutes. He then settled down again in the chimney
corner, as if he intended making a night of it with the less
disgusting beast, now no longer molested, in the opposite corner.

Keryfan signalled to me, and said, in an undertone, " Frank,
we shall have no more trouble with this fellow ; in ten minutes
he will be as drunk as Bacchus, and then we'll make a fresh start
of it."

Quite true ; in less time than that he was lying on his back,
snoring aloud, like Polyphemus in his Trinacrian cave.

" Now, then," said Keryfan to the aubergiste, " take care to
close the door as we leave the house ; for if those dogs of his
follow us, I'll shoot both of them in the first cover."

The man, in a subdued whisper, expressed his readiness to do
as he was directed ; but intimated his conviction that the garde,
on waking up and finding the gentlemen gone, would comport
himself like an unchained wolf.

A few steps brought us to the edge of Penmaen Wood ; a few
more, and we were threading our way through the oak and alder-
bushes of this extensive cover, the spaniels working busily in a
narrow circle around us, and flushing a cock frequently under our
very guns. Twice Keryfan bagged his right and left shots ; but,
on this occasion, I did not get the same chance.

It is human nature, perhaps, to be prejudiced in favour of
one's own race ; and to believe, as almost every Englishman does

36 WOLF-HUNTING.

in the matter of field sports, that his practical knowledge thereof
is unequalled by the inhabitants of any other country. However
true this may be as a general rule, I am bound to say that I have
met with many exceptions to it among my Breton friends. The
Baron Keryfan, for instance, is not only a good shot and a fine
horseman, but thoroughly understands how to draw a cover, where
to look for his game, and, whatever that game may be, so to
handle his hounds in pursuit, that he can usually render a success-
ful account of his day's sport. The Count Charles de St. Prix,
too, although not much of a shot, knows the habits of a red-deer,
and how to hunt him, as well as Mr. Fenwick-Bissett, or the
" Prime Minister " Russell, two men who, beyond all others in the
west country, have studied this grand game and given the wild
dun-deer his due value as a beast of venery, rather than a mere
target for a rifle ball. Across country, and such a country as
Brittany is, St. Prix fears no rival ; and to an old wolf breaking
cover and facing the open, the Louvetier is as fatal an enemy as
Anstruther Thompson ever was to flying fox in the Bicester Vale.
Others, too, might be named in Brittany j such as MM. de Celler,
Kerjeguz, Tregwernez, than whom it would be difficult to find in
any country better shots or keener craftsmen.

There is one point, however, in woodcock-shooting, and that a
very essential one, in which even the foremost of Breton fowlers
signally fail ; and that is, in their mode of beating a large cover
with advantage. A Breton, for instance, will invariably post him-
self in some open spot, while his dogs are ranging through the
cover • and, if a cock flies in his direction, he probably gets a shot
at him ; but, for every chance he thus gets, he loses many better,
by not following his dogs up and taking whatever snap-shots he
can obtain at every cock, as he is flushed, in thick or thin cover.
By this means a moderate shot, whose spaniels are under fair
command, and who can walk well up to them through cover, will
make a far better bag in a day's shooting than the most accom-

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 37

plished marksman who posts himself in an open space or outside
a cover, waiting until the cocks come to him to be shot. Old
Cleave, a famous cock-shot and keeper in Cornwall, used to say,
" I like to see a man and his dogs go out of sight, and head-over-
ears in cover, and then I know they mean business."

This practice enabled Keryfan and myself — for he had acquired
it during his frequent visits to England — invariably to kill a far
greater number of cocks than any Breton chasseurs with whom we
shot during two seasons in Brittany : indeed the advantage on our
side was usually as much as six to one cocks bagged, although, in
the open, we were in no respect better shots at snipe, red-legs, or
running game.

Our heads were now pointing in the direction of Carhaix ; and
as, by falling back to rejoin our friends Kergoorlas and St. Prix,
whose distant and random firing we could barely hear, we feared
the drunken garde-du-bois might burden us again with his com-
pany, Keryfan dispatched his Breton servant to Ty-meur to let the
grooms know we did not intend to return thither, but to shoot our
way home to Carhaix. At the same time the opportunity was
taken of conveying to the drag the- contents of our carnassiere,
now filled to its very edge with fifteen couple of woodcock, three
couple of snipe, a brace of teal, a mallard, and a wood-pigeon —
exactly forty head.

The covers through which we now ranged in the direction of
Pencoet being so matted with heather, we scarcely flushed a single
woodcock before we reached the fir-plantations of M. Gourdin — a
French proprietor, who has reclaimed a large extent of barren
land, planted it with Scotch and larch fir-trees, and built a solitary
chateau in the midst of his wild and umbrageous domain. Every
moonlight night of his life he can hear the wolves howling in the
covers around him, responding to each other's cries, or chiding the
planet that would throw its pale light on their dark orgies ; a
music dismal enough, but in full harmony with the solitude of the

38 WOLF-HUNTING.

surrounding scene. Here, if we except these predatory neigh-
bours, to which he is always paying tribute, but without gaining
their good-will, M. Gourdin is literally " monarch of all he surveys,"
and, although a man of wealth, and a bachelor to boot, prefers
the solitude of the forest to the charms and amenities of a more
social life.

Not two hundred yards from his chateau, in a dry hollow,
unplanted with fir-trees and wholly occupied by heather of a
gigantic growth, lies a patch of ground about four acres in extent,
which Keryfan pointed out to me as St. Prix's favourite " draw,"
when he hunted this district. In the midland counties of England,
proprietors are wont to plume themselves on the perfection of
their fox gorse-covers ; and certainly, if art, judgment, and expen-
diture could ensure a " certain find " and a good run, they are
fairly entitled to such results. But here was a cover of nature
which no art could equal ; a homestead for wolves ; dark, dry,
quiet, and dense as an Indian jungle ; with deep woodlands on
all sides, into which, when disturbed by hounds, a wolf could
break at any point unviewed by mortal eyes.

Our spaniels, with hackle up and terrified looks, regarded the
cover with infinite suspicion, and no coaxing nor encouragement
would induce them to show a nose within its dangerous precincts.
Hollow, arched runs, indeed, in the otherwise solid mass of
heather, indicated too clearly on its edge how frequently they were
used by wolves in their passage in and out from the surrounding
woods j and doubtless, by the manner of the spaniels, the scent of
the wild beast was even now strong on the heather.

"Sensible dogs are they," said M. Gourdin, who had just
joined us, " not to enter that cover. Not a month ago, a she-
wolf and her litter fell upon my faithful old Hector, when
chained at my very door-post. I had gone to Goncarneau to
see the wonderful piscicultural establishment for sea-fish, which
M. Coste, a member of the Academy of Sciences, has managed

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 39

with so much ability for more than twenty years at that place-
Will you believe it, my only injunction — to unchain Hector
and take him within doors at night — was utterly forgotten by
my Breton servant ? and the consequence was, not a vestige of
him could be found in the morning, save his fine old head,
which was dragged so tightly into his brass collar that it alone
remained to tell the tale of the night's feast. The Breton
confessed to hearing the fight ; and had the cowardly rascal
cracked a whip or lighted a match, the old dog's life would
have been saved to a certainty ; but while he listened from his
bed to the gorging and growling ' o'er carcase and limb/ and
' they were too busy to think of him,' his heart failed him,
and he suffered the hungry brutes to hold high carnival over
my poor faithful dog."

I was greatly interested by this story, as, on my previous
visit to Brittany and these covers, I had especially admired
Hector, the grandest specimen of a Wallachian mastiff I had
ever seen. He was at least thirty inches high ; and, single-
handed, no wolf would have conquered him : fettered as he
was, though, his big bone and powerful frame were no match
for the many Philistines that fell upon him in that luckless
night. Between M. Gourdin, the Frenchman, and the Breton
peasantry of his neighbourhood there was no love lost; his
occupation of land, and the legal redress he always resorted
to when his rights were infringed, created a bitter jealousy and
vindictive feelings akin to those, alas ! too well known in our
sister isle. His covers were fenced round, and no longer
available for the firewood hitherto obtained from them without
let or obstruction. Besides his master, Hector, by day, was
the chief guard of the whole domain ; and woe be to the
wretched sackcloth -clad peasant who ventured to gather a
bundle of sticks within the enclosed ground. The dog heard
him a mile off, and pinned him to a certainty, holding him by

40 WOLF-HUNTING.

his sackcloth collar till his cries brought the proprietor to his
rescue : then followed the proces-verbal, leaving a worse grip
than even the mastiff's teeth. In Ireland M. Gourdin's life
would not have been worth a week's purchase; nor will it be
a matter of surprise if, as was believed at Carhaix, the Breton
servant designedly omitted to shut up Hector, but exposed
him to the almost certain fate of being devoured by the wolves
that infested the adjoining cover — a cruel revenge, but one that
might reasonably be expected from a peasantry not half civilised
and desperately tenacious of privileges rightly or wrongly main-
tained from time immemorial.

The Breton peasant naturally hates the rich French pro-
prietor, not only because, armed with the terrible power of the
law, he puts it in force whenever an act of depredation occurs,
but because, speaking a totally distinct language, and differing
from him in physique and natural character quite as much as
a veritable Milesian differs from an Englishman, he regards
him as an intruder on the soil — an alien and a tyrannical
neighbour. It is a fact that, throughout Lower Brittany, the
Celtic language is universally spoken by the Breton population,
and that — with the exception of a few Frenchified words,
necessarily adopted to describe new articles introduced from
France — the language is still in many respects much as it was
a thousand years ago, or even in the fourth century, when, in
the reign of the tyrant Maximus, the first great exodus occurred
from this country to the ancient Armorica.

The isolation of Lower Brittany, no less than the prejudices!
of its people, has doubtless contributed to this unusual result ;
for unusual it certainly is, if what Sir Charles Lyell says be
true, that "no language seems ever to last for a thousand
years." That the languages of modern Europe — especially
those of England, France, Germany, and Italy — have undergone
during that period a complete transmutation, is an unquestion-

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 41

able fact : for instance, " no English scholar," a philologist
might say, "who has not specially given himself up to the
study of Anglo-Saxon can interpret the documents in which
the chronicles and laws of England were written in the days
of King Alfred ; so that we may be sure that none of the
English of the nineteenth century could converse with the
subjects of that monarch if these last could now be restored
to life." Indeed, so rapid has been the change in the English
language, that even Spenser's " Faery Queen," written in the
year 1590, can scarcely now be enjoyed except by the erudite;
while Chaucer and Barbour, poets of the fourteenth century,
require a skilled linguist to read and understand the obsolete
style of those authors.

In France " there is a treaty of peace still extant, a thousand
years old, between Charles the Bald and King Louis of Germany
(dated A.D. 841), in which the German king takes an oath in what
was the French tongue of that day, while the French king swears
in the German of that era ; and neither of these oaths would now
convey a distinct meaning to any but the learned in these two
countries." Again, in Italy the Latin of the Augustan age was
utterly unknown, even in Rome, by the uneducated people, before
the end of the eighth century ; while " the modern Italian cannot
be traced back much beyond the time of Dante, or some six
centuries before our time."

Yet, in spite of all these proofs of change in the four languages
mentioned, that of Lower Brittany has certainly not suffered in a
like degree. A Breton ballad of the sixth century, entitled
"Gerent, Mab Erbin," published by the Comte de la Villemarque,
and compared by him with the Welsh version, as given in " Le
livre rouge de Herghest," a folio volume containing the works of
'Llywarc'h Hen and Taliesin,* is quite intelligible to both Bretons

* This curious old work is to be found in the library of Jesus College, Oxford.

42 WOLF-HUNTING.

and Welshmen of the present day. So, indeed, are the songs in
general which M. de la Villemarque has collected in that most
interesting work of his, " The Poems of the Breton Bards of the
Sixth Century." That gentleman, when he visited the prin-
cipality of Wales about thirty years ago, established the fact, since
corroborated by many others, that a Breton scholar with a know-
ledge of English and a Welshman understanding French, can
carry on a conversation in the Breton language with little
difficulty to either — all the old words being the same, although
when written the spelling of them may be very different.

" But," I hear an impatient enquiry, " what on earth has all
this to do with wolf-hunting and wild sport in Britanny? Cut
bono the knowledge that the Breton language has or has not out-
lived the period of existence assigned to all languages by Sir
Charles Lyell ? " The answer to which is simply this : That, by
the old Breton peasantry, the connection between Great Britain
and Lower Brittany is still cherished with a sentiment of respect
and pride ; that an Englishman is regarded with far more favour
than their very dissimilar and uncongenial French neighbours ;
and that if a Welshman speaking his native tongue visit that
primitive people, he will be received by them with especial favour
and kindness, and welcomed as a brother possessing the same old
Celtic blood in his veins as that of which they are equally proud.

This community of blood and language is a key to the
Breton's heart ; and if, in addition, the sojourner in quest of sport
carry a well-stocked tobacco-pouch, and is liberal therewith, he
may hunt, shoot, or fish, where his inclination lead him, through-
out the length and breadth of Lower Brittany. I speak from
experience, having passed two pleasant seasons among the people,
and traversed, in pursuit of game, its wildest nooks. I never once
was looked upon as an intruder, but, on the contrary, received
the right hand of fellowship wherever I roamed from the peasant
proprietors of that rugged land. True, the aforesaid require-

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 43

merits were fulfilled ; I spoke Breton, and half-ruined myself by
my expenditure in French " caporal."

Our further sport in M. Gourdin's plantations is scarcely worth
recording ; suffice it to say, Keryfan and myself, when the day's
bag was counted, had killed nearly three times as many wood-
cocks as Kergoorlas and St. Prix; both of whom, although
shooting equally well, if not better than ourselves in the open,
never attempted to enter a close cover nor follow their dogs
throughout the day.

44 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER V.

THE principal towns of Lower Brittany, such as St. Brieux, Morlaix,
Brest, and L'Orient, are in no respect deficient in the accommoda-
tion required for the comfort of travellers sojourning in that country;
but, as a general rule, the smaller towns, especially those out of the
beaten track, are sorry quarters even for men able and willing to
undergo considerable discomfort in quest of sport ; for ladies they
are simply unbearable. At Carhaix, as I have said before, there
is, fortunately, a very fair provincial hotel, La Tour d'Auvergne,
the host of which, M. Marseillier, having once been chef -de-cut si fie
on board King Louis-Philippe's yacht, has seen more of the world
than hosts in general; and, still proud of his white cap, doing
duty at his charcoal stove, chatting, singing, frying omelettes, and
concocting the most delicate and savoury dishes, he does all a
man can do to make his guests comfortable, and his house popular.
Madame, too, is a rare manager, looking sharply after the house-
maids, famous for her snow-white linen, and particular, as regards
the sleeping apartments, as any woman in Brittany.

But Marseillier's qualifications as a cook and a landlord are
not his only good points ; he is also devoted to the chase ; and
if, perchance, a foreigner, wishing to see a little wild sport in
that country, take up his quarters at the Hotel la Tour d'Auvergne
(and nowhere within reach of the Black Mountains could he be
better located), Marseillier, whether he had a houseful of guests or

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 45

not, would shoulder his " Faucheux " and show him the favourite
rocky ground of the red-leg, the best dingles for cock, and the
deep covers around, in which the fox, the wolf, or the boar would
always be a sure find. The very first day I shot in the neigh-
bourhood of Carhaix I won Marseillier's heart by disclaiming
any share in the honour of killing a hare, which had jumped
up between us in a field adjoining the town, and which we had
both fired at simultaneously. He was a very poor marksman,
and his delight on receiving my assurance that the hare fell
to his gun was unbounded ; away he went, promising to be
back in two minutes, straight for the hotel, where, as I afterwards
learned, he pleasantly described his superior skill, and instantly
set to work to prepare the hare for a ragout intended for our
dinner that very day ; so it was close upon two hours before he
joined me again.

One word about his hare-ragout, in the concoction of which
few were his equals, and none surpassed him : it was somewhat
similar to our English jugged hare, but far superior in its delicate
flavour and rich gravy. However, he professed to have learned
the secret of making it from the chef on board H.M. the Queen
of England's yacht, when, as Queen of the Ocean, Her Majesty
paid that memorable visit to Louis-Philippe, and so delighted the
French monarch with her affability and queenly dignity. Old
Neptune, however, is a god who does not respect earthly powers,
be they never so exalted or never so puissant ; and it so happened
that, on that occasion, he rolled and heaved in a most inde-
pendent and restless fashion 'neath the keels of the royal yachts ;
and, as Marseillier always relates the story with great humour, it
was his especial duty to mix hot brandy-and-water for the Queen
of England, who, owning the power of the great god, was in
imminent danger of paying the same tribute to him as the weakest
of her subjects ; but, happily, was saved from doing so by a potent
mixture of French eau-de-vie and Marseillier's care.

46 WOLF-HUNTING.

After our day's diversion in the covers of Ty-meur — a day that
especially gladdened Marseillier's heart, for he it was who chiefly
profited by the bag — both Keryfan and myself hoped St. Prix
would bring out his pack and draw M. Gourdin's plantations and
heather-brake, so short a distance from Carhaix, and a sure find
at all times. But dis aliter visum; and so did the Louvetier.
" The hounds," he said, " required more than one day's rest after
their unusually hard work ; and it would never do to bring a
slack pack into such large covers, bristling with furze, and matted
with heather from one end of them to the other."

Accordingly, as an idle hand comes to no good, we, the four
gunners of the previous day, made immediate arrangements for a
day at Locrist — a heather and buckwheat district, in which, if
Marseillier was authentic, the partridges, red-leg and grey, swarmed
en masse. So, at break of day, just as

" The feathered songster chanticleer

Had wound his bugle horn,
And told the early villager
The coming of the morn,"

Kergoorlas' coach rattled over the rough paving-stones of the
old town, and brought many a pretty bonnet-de-mat to the open
windows, as it cracked along towards the modest "place" in
front of the La Tour d'Auvergne. It was a cold, shivery
morning, the ice in the shallow puddles crackling 'neath the
horses' feet, and the grass and fallen leaves sparkling with hoar-
frost. The sun was affecting to shine ; but, in point of heat,
its effort was a mockery, so keen was the north wind and so raw
the damp exhalation arising from the foliage, withering on all
sides around us. About a league from Carhaix, I was in the act
of fastening up the last button of my great-coat, when my eye
caught sight of an object, the recollection of which even now
brings a shudder to my bones. It was the figure of a man, naked
to the waist ; he was leaning against a rough upright stone that

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 47

marked the kilometres of the road, and was engaged in vigorously
rubbing his back and shoulders against it ; and then, to cool
the irritation produced as well by this process as by the
parasitical company of which' he was endeavouring to rid him-
self, he rolled fiercely in the crisp, wet grass, to allay the feverish
pain that seemed to madden him. Had his skin been less thick
than that of a badger, he must have torn it into strips against the
surface of that rugged stone, as again and again he rose from
the ground and applied himself with renewed vigour to the
disgusting labour in which he was engaged. As Kergoorlas,
hearing my exclamation of horror, slackened his horses' pace,
we all recognised the man who in Carhaix was well known as "Le
Grand Loup," a huge, sturdy vagrant who never had done an
hour's work in his life, but subsisted on plunder and the misplaced
charity of strangers, who, seeing him in the garb of Lazarus, lying
from morning to night at the doorpost of the hotel, soliciting alms
or tobacco from all who entered, only encouraged by their gifts
the idleness and vagrancy he had so long practised, and which
was so prevalent in that country. Keryfan tossed him a few sous,
telling him to buy a piece of soap, and that its application to his
skin would do him far more service than all the menhir of
Carnac.

As he rolled from the grass and clutched at the coin in the
dirty road, he poured forth a string of blessings, long as that of an
Italian mendicant monk, and probably quite as beneficial ; then,
looking up with the expression of a hungry wolf, he said : " Ay,
but the soap won't fill my empty stomach ; that is my first want."
Keryfan's sympathy was touched again, and so unmistakably
earnest was the vagrant's appeal, that a loaf and sausage were at
once pitched into his upraised hands.

Locrist lies in a valley, and is charmingly situated at the
confluence of a small stream with the Carhaix river, the fine
overhanging woods rendering it one of the most picturesque

48 WOLF-HUNTING.

spots in that neighbourhood. The little hamlet, however, boasts
but of one mill and a couple of poor cottages ; so that accom-
modation there was none, much less "good entertainment for
man and horse," in any of those buildings. It was found
necessary, therefore, to send on the team and coach to Callac,
a small town near the Forest of Dualt, about two leagues
beyond Locrist, and on the eastern road between that place
and Guingamp.

Our arrangements for the beat were soon made : St. Prix
and Kergoorlas, who were bent on having their revenge, taking
the hill on the right bank of the brook ; while Keryfan and I
worked the rough ground on the opposite side of the valley. By
this plan we mutually derived immense advantage, as we were
able not only to mark for each other, but to save our legs from
the labour of following the coveys that continually, in their first
flight, crossed and recrossed the deep ravine that lay between us.
The red-legged birds were especially addicted to this manoeuvre.
When sprung on one side, they almost invariably crossed to the
other; and then, taking advantage of some intervening knoll — •
just as a fox would place a line of hillocks or the screen of some
undulating ground between him and the eyes that would tally him
— they recrossed the valley, and perhaps dropped into a strong
piece of gorse within a field or two of the spot on which they
were just found. But, by drawing both sides of the valley
simultaneously, we completely out-manoeuvred their tactics ; and
this, too, without shouting or disturbing the ground otherwise
than by the report of our guns and the legitimate work of our
dogs. When birds were marked down, a hat waved in the
direction served as the simple but effective semaphore to indicate
their exact whereabouts. Then, not a word passed between us,
so that the running propensity of the red-leg received no stimulus
from our babbling tongues.

No country in the world can surpass this rough ground of

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WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 49

Brittany in point of scent. It carries in its long grass and heather
both a foot and a side scent ; while the humid air is highly favour-
able to its long duration on the soil or vegetation with which the
game has come into contact. It is no exaggeration to say that I
have seen a Brittany pointer, when down wind, find a covey of
birds, feeding on green wheat, at least five hundred yards up-wind
from the spot at which he first winded them. On the present
occasion it was a grand treat to witness the way in which a fine
old-fashioned dog, called Mars, found his birds at certainly that, if
not a greater distance. With nose high in air (the Brittany
pointers never rake), he stepped along, straight as a crow would
fly, across a large field, stood a moment on the bank, drew rapidly
across the next, again stood on the bank, crossed a third and a
fourth field ; and at length, on the top of the fifth bank, came to a
fixed point, his head erect, his tail level with his back, and
his whole attitude worthy of Phidias' chisel. A covey of red-
legs were lying close hid in the buckwheat stubble not twenty
yards from his nose. Keryfan got a brace ; but, as I was some-
what blown by the exertion of following the dog, my foot slipped
at the fence, and before I could recover myself the birds were out
of range.

I was not, however, doomed to disappointment ; for in less
than two minutes Kergoorlas' hat was waving steadily downwards;
and we soon learned from the signal that the covey had dropped
in a thick hanging cover in the vale below us. Thither we quickly
sped, and had only just time to mount the bank commanding the
wood, when Mars and Dian began to draw, and almost imme-
diately came to a steady point within. a few yards of the fence.
Both dogs had been trained to break point when encouraged to do
so, and Keryfan's one word was quite sufficient to send them
headforemost into the dense mass of gorse, bramble, and scrub
wherein the birds had taken refuge. At once there was a whirr,

50 WOLF-HUNTING.

and again Keryfan knocked down a brace, while I only managed
to floor my second bird.

There was a good deal of high, branchy timber, chiefly oak,
too, with the leaf still on, standing in the cover ; and, as Keryfan
announced a brace down to his barrels, I could not resist a few
words of applause. " Bravo, Baron ! " I exclaimed ; " I never
saw man and dogs do better work."

"Hold hard, Frank," said he, "wait till they're gathered.
Both my birds, if I mistake not, are runners ; and if so, the dogs'
hardest work is yet before them. Red-legs, in such a cover as
this, are far more difficult to stop on foot than they are on wing."

He had scarcely finished speaking, when Dian, with her short,
stumpy tail eloquently expressing her satisfaction, sprang on the
bank, bearing aloft my dead bird, its head and legs dangling from
her jaws, but not a feather crushed by her tender mouth. She
dropped it gently into Keryfan's hand.

Again, away she flew at her master's command, as if she was
well aware, too, there was more game still to be recovered. I
could hear Mars in hot pursuit, as the dry sticks crackled in his
track ; but Dian knew her business far too well to interfere in his
work. She had her own to do, and seemed to understand it
instinctively — the result, doubtless, of careful training and high
sagacity. Battues and beaters are abominations ! " Procul, O
procul este, profani ! " Give me one hour with such dogs as
Keryfan's, and pleasantly will my memory dwell on it to the day
of my death.

In a little more than two minutes both dogs appeared on the
bank, each with a red-leg alive in his mouth. As before, Dian
trotted directly up to Keryfan, and literally put her bird into his
hand; but Mars was not so complaisant. He, proud of his
capture, and carrying his head high, marched round and round
his master, indicating, with all the signs of which he was capable,
his extreme delight in the successful chase. Never did I see

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 51

better work, nor a prettier sight. Well might Keryfan be proud
of such a brace of dogs, and fairly might he be pardoned for
believing they were faultless in their work as any man's dogs in
Brittany.

A year only afterwards Mars and Dian became my property.
Keryfan had sustained a shock which made him renounce the gun
for the rest of his life. His confidential servant, Pastor, keeper,
piqueur, henchman, and friend to him, had his head blown to
pieces by a blundering Englishman, who, in shooting at a covey of
birds, missed them, and killed the man. Knowing well my
appreciation of his two dogs, he wrote me the following letter after
that sad event.

" DEAR FRANK,

" You will be grieved to hear the bad news this letter
conveys. Yesterday poor Pastor was killed in the field. He was
out shooting with a novice, who, bungling with his triggers, shot
him instead of his bird. I am greatly distressed by the accident,
for, as you know, Pastor was my right hand in all things, an
honest man, and a friend I could ill spare in these times.

" I have made up my mind never to shoot again. So if Mars
and Dian will be of any use to you, pray accept them from

" Your old friend,

" KERYFAN."

There is one especial feature in which the Brittany pointers far
excel all I have met with in other countries • they will face the
strongest gorse cover without hesitation, and draw it for birds, as
a foxhound would draw it for a fox. They certainly are not so
fine in the skin as the Spanish or English pointers ; but, although
they do not carry long-haired jackets and feathered sterns like
setters or spaniels, their coats are thick and close-set, and well
adapted to the rough country in which they do their work. They

52 WOLF-HUNTING.

have probably some admixture of hound blood in their veins ;
their long, pendant ears, high crowns, and the almost universal
habit of throwing tongue when in hard pursuit of a hare, would
indicate affinity with the hound race ; and if thus descended, their
courage in drawing gorse and thick cover is readily explained.

It may be a natural, and is decidedly a patriotic feeling, to
believe that no nation in the world understands the breeding and
management of dogs so well as we do.

Hounds, and their various breed,
And no less various use.

Yet the poor, uneducated peasant of Lower Brittany, the bra-
connier who gets his livelihood by the chase, shooting seven days
in every week, and shooting partout, breaks a pointer for his own
use immeasurably superior in many respects to the highly-trained
dogs so often met with in our turnip fields and grouse moors.
The former will break fence, it is true, and will foot a hare like
a very hound ; but this he has been taught and encouraged to do
— it is a qualification essential to the bag. On the other hand,
he will, as has already been stated, face the thorniest brake, never
rake in drawing for his birds, and, above all, will retrieve his
wounded game by land or water perfectly. Without these accom-
plishments, especially the first and last, he would be valueless to
the braconnier in that land. However, suum cuique is doubtless
the fair conclusion : certain it is that the thin-skinned, highly-bred,
and highly-broken English pointer is found to be utterly useless in
Lower Brittany; while probably the coarser-bred dog of that
country would be unequal to the quick stubble work and fine
style required in this.

There is a sad disfigurement practised on Brittany pointers,
which, considering the gorsy nature of the covers they draw, has
doubtless its advantage; but, on the other hand, it detracts
largely from the good looks, and even the dignity of the dog in

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 53

action; the tail, that indicator of all a dog's thoughts, that
silent tongue that explains all he means, is chopped off in puppy-
hood, and a mere stump is left, scarcely longer than that of a
Salisbury sheep-dog. Shame on the braconnier, for his utter
disregard of the pointer's beauty and graceful movement ! Better
might he have rounded his ears, as we do those of the fox-hound,
than mutilate the tail in such barbarous fashion. The former
operation would be far more serviceable, and, at the same time,
less disfiguring to the appearance of the dog. What a sorry
object a stump-tailed pointer would cut side by side with those
grand animals exhibited in that class at our National Dog Shows !
And yet, over and through the rough cover-land of Brittany, the
latter, as I have abundantly tested, will bear no comparison with
his coarser congener. He is worth a parish pound-full of the
other for the scrub work required of a pointer in that country.

But to the sport. It was our turn now to hoist the hat ; the
five birds escaping had dropped in a genet, a plot of broom, on the
opposite side of the valley ; but before Kergoorlas and St. Prix
could reach the spot a sturdy peasant, accoutred in a brown,
shaggy goat-skin jacket, shambled up from the valley below,
whence he had doubtless been watching our operations, and, with
the aid of his stump-tail dog, kicked the birds singly up, and
actually bagged four out of five of them before our friends gained
the enclosure. This is a land of freedom and equality — at least
so say the modern French songs \ and certainly if a poor peasant
braconnUr could take this liberty, as he did with impunity, there
must be some ground of truth in their burden. He had just
knocked over his fourth bird as Kergoorlas and St. Prix topped
the fence close to him • and, so far from being either surprised or
even conscious of doing what he had not a perfect right to do, he
lifted up his broad-brimmed hat, and at once commenced chaffing
St. Prix, whom he evidently knew, with coming too late to share
the sport he had just been enjoying. " But come," said he, with

54 WOLF-HUNTING.

infinite coolness, " you shall not be disappointed ; there are red-
leg and grey partridges en masse in this valley, and if you follow
me you'll burn all your powder and fill your carnassiere before
midday."

St. Prix, one of the proudest of the old Breton noblesse, whose
mother was maid-of-honour to Marie Antoinette, and he a
Legitimist to the backbone, could ill brook the peasant's familiarity.
" Follow you," he said, deliberately ; " no j we neither require
your leadership nor your company. You go your ways and we'll
go ours."

In no wise discomfited by this rebuff, the man, who was
really a good-natured fellow, said pleasantly, " Well, M. de St.
Prix, if you won't take a good offer, I'll quit you, certainly ; but
mind, if you require my service in any way, I shall be within easy
reach of you for the rest of the day." So saying, he lifted his hat,
whistled to his dog, and disappeared over the adjoining fence.

These, as we afterwards learned, were his usual tactics,
depending on the labour of others to fill his bag, and "living,"
as he was wont to say, " like the lion, on the prey hunted down
for him by the jackals that came into the Locrist valley." On
future occasions, whenever I went shooting alone into that neigh-
bourhood, I generally found that my first right and left shots
brought the lion out ; and being always well provided with
tobacco, I had no difficulty in securing his good services, and
getting him to show me the remise of every covey sprung on the
adjoining hills. That is the name given to the cover, whatever it
be, into which the game, when disturbed on feed, immediately
flies for concealment ; and as the whole face of the land, barring
a patch of oat or buckwheat stubble here and there, is one mass
of gorse, broom, heather, and brushwood, a single chasseur,
without a knowledge of the remise, and without a marker, might
as well bide away; he sees a covey once, and never sees it
again. He might far better hope to recover a blackcock in

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 55

the ravines of Benvoirlich, than a red-leg under such circum-
stances.

Kledan, or Kledan Kam — for, owing to a lame leg, the
braconnier was thus surnamed — had arrived at this knowledge
by a plan clever enough and peculiarly his own. Being physically
unable to work hard for his game, it was his habit, in default of
less natural jackalls, to send his wife and dog to scour the
surrounding hills and feeding ground ; while he, mounted on
some knoll that commanded the whole valley, took the bearings
of every covey disturbed by them, and thus ascertained the
remise, far or near, to which it winged its flight. Hence, as a
guide to the game, he was more effective than a dozen dogs
would have been in that district ; and if, at the end of a day, a
franc piece and a brace of birds were added to the two ounces of
tobacco which at least in a few hours he converted into smoke
and ashes, poor Kledan was made unspeakably happy. We
gradually became great allies ; insomuch, that if I failed to pay
the valley of Locrist a weekly visit, he would loudly complain of
my long absence ; and when, at length, the time came for my
departure, a stranger would have supposed Kledan was about to
lose the dearest friend he had upon earth. " But for my wife and
dog," he said, despondingly (he always bracketed them together,
and it often puzzled me to know which of the twain he loved
the best) ; " but for my wife and dog, I would cross the sea
to-morrow, and be your garde-chasse in England for the rest of my
days. But they would soon want bread if they lost me ; and that
chains me to Locrist."

Poor Kledan ! little did he know what a fish out of water he
would have been as an English gamekeeper : the night-watching
would scarcely have suited him so well as killing red-legs and
playing the lion over the jackalls that visited his native valley.
His thorough independence, too, would have astonished a stranger
at the cover-side. I turned my back on him soon afterwards with

56 WOLF-HUNTING.

infinite regret ; but my memory often reproduces him before my
mind's eye, a fresh, earnest, and manly Breton peasant as that
country ever produced.

About twenty brace of birds, red-leg and grey, six woodcocks,
and a hare or two, had fallen to our guns on both sides of the valley,
when an incident occurred that somewhat marred our sport, and
set St. Prix in a blaze for the rest of the day. Kergoorlas'
favourite pointer, in jumping off a bank, pitched exactly on the
bridge of a huge wolf-trap, which, instantly springing, caught him
with its iron jaws by both forelegs. They were broken on the
spot ; and a merciful shot from his master's gun, there being no
alternative, released the poor brute at once from further suffering.
We all grieved for the dog ; but St. Prix's trouble, as the Louve-
tier of that district, arose chiefly from the trap : not even Sir
Watkin, nor Russell, nor Meynell, of old, could have been more
jealous for the fair life of a fox than he was for that of a wolf; his
vexation, then, in discovering that foul play was practised in this,
his favourite hunting-ground, burst forth at intervals for the next
day or two, like the fiery eruptions of a disturbed volcano. Kledan,
who suddenly dropped over the fence and joined us at this junc-
ture, naturally aroused St. Prix's suspicion ; and bitter were the
invectives he levelled at the braconnieSs head. He, however,
stoutly denied all knowledge of the trap ; and, to show his
sincerity, at once volunteered to carry it and throw it into the
deepest pit of the river below; a proposal St. Prix derisively
scoffed at, saying to the braconnier, " You may do that if you
please ; but you'll fish it up again before the sun rises to-morrow
morning."

" I never have trapped, and never tried to trap a wolf in my
life/' said Kledan, fiercely ; " but there's no knowing what I may
do for the future, when, on my oath, you refuse to believe my
word."

St. Prix had fairly exasperated him, and, I believe, did him

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 57

great injustice ; for, as I afterwards discovered, Kledan feared no
man, and would speak the truth in the face of death itself. How
this altercation would have terminated, it is useless now to con-
jecture , but, just at the moment it bid fair to culminate into
violent action between St. Prix and the braconnitr, a peasant
opportunely appeared in the field, hastening towards us, and
bearing by his manner some tidings of import to some of the
party. He walked straight up to the Louvetier, and, lifting his
hat respectfully, entreated his immediate help at Trefranc.
" For," said he, " the wolves are eating us up there. Two days
ago they killed my cow by daylight ; and last evening they seized
my horse by the gullet, and would have killed him in half a
minute, if I had not rushed to his rescue and scared the brutes
away : as it is, they have stripped his skin down from the throat
to the chest. So pray, monsieur, don't delay."

St. Prix at once slipped a five-franc piece into his hand, and
gladdened the poor fellow's heart further by saying : " To-morrow
morning my hounds shall be at Trefranc Rocks at eight o'clock ;
and if the loup-garou is roused, let him look to his skin."

58 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER VI.

"THE wolf-hounds at Trefranc Rocks to-morrow at 8." No
sooner had that fixture been announced, than away sped the
grateful peasant, fast as his heavy sabots would carry him, to
communicate the glad news to the surrounding hamlets. Up hill
and down dale, over many a mile of rough country did he speed,
like Malise bearing the fiery cross when Vich-Alpine summoned
his mountain clans to the muster-place at Lanric Mead. Not a
hamlet nor a hut within many leagues of that centre but knew the
rendezvous, and responded to the peasant's cry of " War and
death to the wolf ; " not a glen that sent not its hardy tenant forth
to destroy the skulking robber, that, first or last, had plundered
each and all of them in turn, and brought want and misery to so
many hearths.

Any one wishing to see the Celtic population of Lower Brit-
tany in its rude simplicity — natural, wild, and unchanged as it is
by the varnish of modern civilisation — should go to a wolf-hunt :
the peasant's blood is then up, and, both in garb and action, he
fairly represents the appearance and character of our ancient
forefathers, as described by Tacitus and other later authors.
Clad so far as his waist in a shaggy goat-skin mantle, his nether
limbs encased in the coarsest sackcloth, quaintly fashioned in the
form of spacious " bragues " or tight fitting to the legs, his feet
stockingless, but protected by huge beechen sabots well stuffed

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 59

with straw, and his long curly locks, which apparently have
never been violated either by scissors or comb, falling wildly over
his back and shoulders, he presents the appearance of a veritable
Ancient Breton, such as that individual might be supposed to
have been before the period of the Saxon Heptarchy. Then see
him in chase, his weapon a club or a pike, if he is not rich
enough to possess a gun, and his game the wolf ! He is then
"the noble savage" all over; his passion is roused, and the
hunting instinct natural to man blazes out in him uncontrollably,
and converts at once the peaceable Breton peasant into the simili-
tude of a wild Huron or a Crow-foot Indian.

His cries of " A'hr bleiz, a'hr bleiz !" when the wolf is afoot
are almost unearthly, his object being, doubtless, to cheer the
hounds and terrify the wolf; but that he should be more success-
ful in the latter than the former result may be gathered from the
tone of execration, very bitter and very unmusical, that accom-
panies every shout. He grinds it out, as it were, through his
teeth; and the sound of "A'hr bleiz, a'hr bleiz !" ringing through
the woods is enough to terrify the stoutest wolf ; and if a stranger
hear the yell, it will remain impressed on his memory for many a
future day.

Not commonly, however, does the Louvetier communicate the
meet of the wolf-hounds to the peasantry at large ; it is only when
a wolf or a litter of wolves become exceptionally bold and
destructive, that he proclaims the war-note' aloud, and the whole
country is gathered together, far and near, to avenge the havoc
and check its farther progress. On such occasions, as may be
supposed, the beauty of the chase is sadly marred by the hubbub
and confusion accompanying the hounds on every side ; the
danger, too, from the whistling slugs and wild use of their
musketry by the peasantry is often serious ; and St. Prix, like
many a master of hounds in this country, is sometimes sorely
tried by his motley and unruly crowd.

60 WOLF-HUNTING.

It was a glorious hunting morning the day they met at
Trefranc. No gossamer glittered on the grass, no "spangles
decked the thorn ; " but the soft west wind blew freshly over
the heath, the clouds were high, and all betokened steady
weather and good scent.

" If it's not more than one old dog-wolf that has done all
this mischief," said St. Prix, as we approached the clump of
beech trees that towered over the little hamlet of Trefranc,
" he'll find some difficulty in clearing the cover with a whole
skin."

His experienced eye had detected, at the distance of half a
league, a perfect cordon of peasants surrounding those points
of the cover at which wolves pointing for Dualt were accus-
tomed to break in times past.

"It will be a fiery ordeal for him, at all events," said
Keryfan, noting the crowd ; "I devoutly hope the wolf's will
be the only skin to suffer on the occasion. For myself, I'll
take precious care to give those muskets a wide berth, as I
should sorely object to a slug wound from such weapons. To
be potted by a peasant in mistake for a wolf would indeed be
an inglorious finale."

"Quite right, too," said St. Prix; "follow the hounds
closely, and the chances are you will be clear of all danger
from the flying shot. The wolf usually keeps well ahead of
them j and where he breaks there will break the storm of leaden
hail."

This bit of advice was of course intended for me ; as, with
the exception of St. Prix himself, no men in Brittany had seen so
many wolves killed as Keryfan and Kergoorlas ; whereas this was
my first experience of an open peasants' day. The Louvetier
had scarcely done speaking when Louis Trevarreg, the trustiest
of his piqueurs, advanced rapidly from the cover-side, leading
old Tonnerre, the famous limier in a leash, and, lifting his hat

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 61

respectfully, Louis informed us he had tracked in a couple of
old wolves where they had crossed the brook in the northern
valley; that Tonnerre had nearly dragged his arm off in his
eagerness to follow the trail ; and that, on laying on the pack,
he ventured to say they would rouse them in less than half
an hour.

" I knew there must be more than one wolf at Trefranc," said
St. Prix, " to have done so much mischief. The cowardly brutes
" rarely commit wholesale murder single-handed."

The pack, consisting this day of not more than twelve couple,
just two-thirds of the lot usually hunted on less dangerous
occasions, sat quietly on their haunches on a plot of short heather
within a hundred yards of us, but down wind of the cover we
were about to draw. The moment, however, they discovered the
Louvetier's voice, vain were the whips and frantic efforts of the
piqueurs to prevent their rushing forward to welcome his arrival ;
and, considering they were all in couples, it was a marvel to me
that no accident occurred by their fouling the horse's legs, as they
pressed forward tumultuously on every side and even under his
very girths. But St. Prix, who had a caress for one and a kind
word for another, was delighted at the demonstration, and took
no heed whatever, neither did his horse, of the jingling chains and
uproarious action evinced by the hounds. On my expressing sur-
prise at the steadiness of his hunter, he said, with a smile, " Ah !
Barbe-Bleu knows better, when I am on his back, than to kick at
a hound ; but, left to himself, and without a hand on his bridle,
a more dangerous brute never accompanied a pack." I have
often heard the immortal "Jack Russell," the keenest of all
hound observers, say, that it is not the man who feeds the hounds,
nor the man who hunts them in the field, whom the hounds love
best ; but the man who opens their kennel door and gives them
freedom; here then, methought, was an exception; St. Prix
neither fed nor unkennelled his hounds, but led and cheered

62 WOLF-HUNTING.

them to the chase ; and yet he, unquestionably, was their chief
joy. Not a hound looked at a piqueur from that instant to the
end of the day.

" Let go six couple," said St. Prix to the piqueurs, as they
rushed up to secure the hounds ; " and hold the rest in couple
till you hear my horn; then, if it sounds *Le Loup,' slip
them all."

This order was occasioned by St. Prix's knowing the cover of
Trefranc to be a favourite one for foxes; and the result soon
proved its necessity. We then trotted off with the uncoupled
hounds, Louis Trevarreg being our pilot, to the brook-side, where
the wolves had left their tracks ere they entered the great cover.
When at least a hundred yards from the spot, the hounds, catch-
ing wind of the scent, dashed eagerly forward, and, throwing their
deep tongues simultaneously, shot like arrows into the cover and
disappeared in full cry. I could see a shade of uneasiness on St.
Prix's countenance as he listened, still and mute as a statue, to
detect, if he could, any change in the hounds' tongues, as they
carried the drag merrily over the hill and towards the strongest
holding in the valley below. Once or twice he looked round at
me and just nodded his head approvingly; as much as to say,
" They're all right now, and will soon have him on his legs."
Once or twice, too, he put his horn to his lips to give the signal ;
but, as his fine ear distinguished that, as yet, hot as the drag was,
the wolf was still unroused, that cumbrous but useful and pic-
turesque instrument swung back unsounded over his shoulder-
blade. I wondered, at the moment, what some of our hard-
riding masters of hounds would say, if they were constrained by
fashion to carry such horns ; and I pictured to myself the frac-
tured bones and contusions they would inevitably sustain by the
encumbrance of such heavy metal attached to them when they
fell. How St. Prix escaped utter annihilation, as he and his
horse rolled over together amid pits, grips, and granite boulders,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 63

will be a mystery to me so long as I live ! Some angel must
have guarded him tenderly.

Bang, bang, bang ! from the hill above, and the shrieking
sound of slugs hurtling through the air but a few yards above our
heads roused me from my momentary abstraction : then, instantly,
the shout from many brazen throats of "yr louarn, yr louarn !" —
a fox, a fox — resounded on our ears. The hounds heard it at
once, and, throwing up their heads, the cry suddenly ceased. St.
Prix turned pale with rage, and dashing into the forest, rode
straight for the quarter whence the wild yells were continued.
No whip in the world, not even Jack Goddard in the golden age
of the Heythrop, could have got at his hounds and stopped the
mischief more promptly. As he crashed through the bushes, in
the very nick of time, and headed the leading hounds, one short
blast of his horn gathered the six couple around him like a stroke
of magic ; and, before they could feel for the scent on which the
peasants were hallooing them, he lifted them back at a hand
canter, and in a few seconds recovered the line from which they
had been so vexatiously diverted. Had they settled on the fox,
the wolves, in all probability, would have slipped away and our
sport been marred for the day. The peasants, too, would have
been greatly annoyed at the result of their own riotous behaviour.
A wolf with a good start in his favour, and a distant strong point,
like the Forest of Dualt, to gain, is as bad to catch as the wildest
fox that ever broke from a Dartmoor tor. However, all's well
that ends well ; every hound was quickly again at work and the
cover cracking with the music. St. Prix's horn, too, was again,
ever and anon, lifted spasmodically to his cheek j but it was only
drag, and the Louvetier still gave no signal.

The hounds, with their mouths away from us, were now
pointing for a precipitous rocky ravine, matted with thorny
brushwood and the wild clematis, through which it was all but
impossible on horseback to force one's way. Twice I was

64 WOLF-HUNTING.

dragged bodily from the saddle to the ground, while my coat
was literally torn to tatters on my back ; the clematis, inter-
twined with the bushes, formed a rope-like rigging as difficult
to pass through as the shrouds of a ship ; and I longed for a
cutlass to hew my way through the provoking growth. St. Prix,
however, in his close-fitting hunting-cap and green velveteen
attire, still forged ahead, and I could see him between me and
the sky-line fighting bravely forward, but, like myself, at some
distance astern of the hounds. Notwithstanding the Louvetier's
advice to stick to the hounds, Keryfan and Kergoorlas, as I
very soon found, had avoided this pass, and traversing a more
open part of the cover, had joined the peasants on the opposite
hill.

I was just emerging from a network of clematis, by which
I had been nearly strangled, when I caught sight of " Barbe-
Bleu " jerked back suddenly on his haunches, and St. Prix
grasping at his horn ; at the same moment, the hounds' heads
being turned in my direction, the angrier, sharper tone of their
tongues told me at once the wolf was afoot, and they hard at
him entering the ravine. Instantly the exciting blast of "Le
Loup" rung from the Louvetier's horn, and, responding to the
signal, at least half a dozen other horns proclaimed the "find" from
distant parts of the cover. Then the " relais," the six couple in
hand, were thrown in at front, till what with hounds, horns, and
echoes, the old forest of Trefranc fairly rocked with applause.
Had Diana been there, that wild sylvan harmony would have
driven her mad with delight ; and had the goddess seen Keryfan
as, now with the hill in his favour, he crashed through the cover,
clearing the clematis before him like so many cobwebs, her anti-
matrimonial views would have vanished like a summer-cloud, and
she must have lost her heart to him for ever. But, if the truth be
told, had Venus herself been there, I doubt very much if, under
the circumstances, Keryfan would have looked a second time at

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 65

her ; so strong and so pure is the passion for the chase that, when
it is kindled, not even " Love is lord of all."

For a whole hour the hounds appeared glued to their game,
driving hard every moment of the time, and carrying a grand head
whenever the hollow cover enabled them to do so ; but as yet not
a wolf had been viewed by one of the field, nor was it known for
certain whether a brace or a single wolf was in front of the
hounds. However, this doubt was soon dispelled. A long,
narrow strip of open, short heather lay exactly in the line for
which the chase was now pointing, and, as the cover in this
direction ran, like a peninsula, far out from its main area, what-
ever the hounds were running was bound to break at the far end
or turn short back, there and then, in the face of them and the
mounted field.

Simultaneously, and side by side, a brace of grand old wolves
now broke over the heather, striding, with an easy, long gallop,
as evenly together as a pair of well-matched leaders in the old
Quicksilver mail. Had they suspected, however, that in escaping
from Charybdis they would only be falling into the jaws of
Scylla's dogs, no power would have forced them to quit the
stronghold of Trefranc. There, at least, if not gorged with flesh,
they might have baffled the stoutest hounds in Christendom for
many a long day ; but this was the down-wind point, and, wary
and suspicious as they ever are, it was simply beyond the
compass of their eyes, ears, or nose to discover that fifty
peasants or more stood at short intervals on the edge of that
cover, each bearing a deadly weapon expressly for their destruc-
tion.

The fusilade at that moment was terrific, but scarcely less
deafening than the hue and cry raised by the peasants at sight
of their enemy. One wolf fell dead, riddled with slugs, but
the other, evidently badly hit, headed back, and either squatting
in the brushwood as the hounds flung over him, or shooting

66 WOLF-HUNTING.

past them unviewed, he managed to gain the main cover without
further difficulty.

The danger of that fusilade was in reality no joke, even to
the chasseurs that followed the hounds. Keryfan, notwithstanding
his precaution, received a shot in his bridle arm ; but, thanks to
a thick jacket and the intervening distance, it was a mere scratch
— drew blood and no more. Two of the peasants, however,
fared far worse : one carried his leg as if badly wounded in that
limb, while the other lay on his side in the heather, groaning
aloud in his agony. A crowd had collected around him, eager to
help the poor fellow, and equally anxious, each one of them, to
shift the imputation of having shot him on any one's shoulders
but their own ; while all stoutly swore that every slug of their guns
would be found in the dead wolfs body. On drawing near to
investigate the extent of the injury, I was somewhat startled to
find that the wounded man was Kledan Kam, the braconnier ;
but, although the slug had cut an ugly gash in the fleshy part
of his lower back, and it bled profusely, the missile had not
lodged there ; so I cheered his heart speedily with a goutte of
brandy and the assurance that he would be all right again in a few
days. When the pain had a little abated, and he had recognised
me as one of the chasseurs at Locrist on the previous day, his
thoughts instantly reverted to the charge of setting a wolf-trap
made against him by St. Prix. " I assure you, monsieur," he
said, " I am too fond of hunting the wolf with gun and hounds
to set a night-trap for him ; and Monsieur de St. Prix's refusal to
believe my word has wounded me more painfully than this
cursed slug, and pray tell him so."

For one hour over the fallen foe a fanfare of horns proclaimed
the victory far and wide, while the hounds, sitting on their
haunches, and every now and then taking a savage grip at the
gaunt brute's throat, bayed a wild response to the joyous notes.
It was evidently St. Prix's object to rest his hounds, otherwise

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 67

he must have paid readier attention to the entreaties of the pea-
sants, and gone at once in pursuit of the other wounded wolf;
besides, fearing perhaps the damage his hounds might receive
in their encounter with that formidable antagonist, he purposely
delayed proceedings, hoping the wolf might bleed to death ere
the hounds closed with him in some unapproachable ravine of
that great cover. If such were his reasons, he was doubtless
right in his dilatory tactics, though I confess I fully shared the
impatience loudly expressed by the excited peasants.

The bombardment of the wolves reminded me of a scene
which, many years ago, I more than once witnessed on the
south coast of Devon. Between the rugged cliffs on the west
side of Dartmouth Harbour and Start Point extends a beach of
rough sea-sand for a distance of more than two miles ; at the
back of which, that is, on the land side, a lake of fresh water,
called Slapton Lea, runs parallel with the sea, and is divided from
it only by that narrow sandy barrier throughout the whole dis-
tance. The Lea, bountifully fed from the valleys above by two
never-failing trout-streams, abounds with jack, perch, roach, and
eels; and in winter swarms of wild-fowl, especially coot, which
are bred among the reeds, frequent its waters. The principal
owner is Sir Lydston Newman, although a strip of the lake on the
eastern side belongs to Mr. Toll ; but that portion of it is so
overgrown with long reeds and aquatic plants that, serviceable as
it is for a breeding-place for the wild-fowl, it is not so convenient
for the passage of boats as the western and larger portion, the
property of Sir Lydston Newman. Most kind and liberal is the
baronet with respect to sport on this water. A grand public
"Lea-day" is annually fixed for the bombardment of the wildfowl ;
and every farmer " outwardly given " to such amusement for
many a mile round looks forward to it as the one great holiday
for the winter season. But, ye gods ! if there are swarms of coot
darkening the air, swarms of shot are flying after them from every

68 WOLF-HUNTING.

available quarter ; not ordinary gun-shot, but No. 2 slugs and
swan drops, and those, too, impelled by fabulous charges of
powder from fowling-pieces of antiquated fashion and mighty
length. The last time I was present, five boats, each manned
with four or five gunners, traversed the lake to and fro abreast,
while an army of outsiders flanked the water's edge on each
shore, and at every flight of the fowl, utterly regardless of
consequences, these last poured their hap-hazard volleys, high
or low, into the passing fowl, and not unfrequently into some
unlucky boat. Such a cry and commotion as then arose it is
utterly impossible to describe. Threats of vengeance were
hurled back, and sometimes, if a farmer was hit, a return shot
was instantly fired at the offenders, right into the brown of them,
promiscuously. Then the occasional bursting of a fowling-piece
did more serious damage, and swelled the casualities of the
Lea-day into a frightful list.

Matters now are probably better managed; but the scene I
have endeavoured to describe is no exaggerated picture of a
"grand Lea-day" in former times, when bell-mouthed guns and
flint-locks were far more general than detonators, and when
French copper-caps not unfrequently burst like shells and flew
in splinters into the gunner's face. From that day to the one at
Trefranc I had seen nothing like it, nor, in point of casualty, was
there a pin to choose between them.

But now to the wounded wolf. The hounds clapped on to
the scent, soon settled to it, and, to judge by the crash that
followed, it might be supposed he was not a minute ahead
of them. " That's his blood they're enjoying," said St. Prix
to me, as he listened with intense delight to the rattling
peal : " the faster it trickles the better the scent, and, above
all, the easier will be the victory to the hounds in the last
fight."

" Then it will be soon over," I remarked, hearing the pack

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 69

driving desperately. "If badly hit, he can't last long at that
pace."

" He is an hour ahead of them," rejoined St. Prix, "and will
keep going so long as life lasts,"

We now rode to head the chase, safe, at least for a time, from
the random shots of the peasants, many of whom still lingered
behind, feasting their eyes on the carcase of the fallen wolf, while
the remainder straggled on, unposted, in the rear of the hounds;
but ever, as we reached the far side of this great cover, the wolf,
shirking the edge of it, doubled back for its innermost depths,
and again and again threw us out, and baffled St. Prix's hope of
being able to help his hounds with his couteau-de-chasse in the
last savage struggle. An accident now occurred to Kergoorlas
that I greatly marvel did not end more seriously. His horse put
his fore legs into a badger's earth, and almost turned a summer-
sault on his rider. The latter, however, as luck would have it,
fell on a heap of soft, newly-excavated earth, and, although he
smashed his horn flat as an opera-hat, he escaped with only a few
bruises.

I was hastening towards him with the view of rendering
all the assistance in my power, when I heard the hounds throw
up and the cry suddenly cease, and at once all was quiet as the
lull after a raging storm. Kergoorlas heard it too, and, casting
his horse's snaffle-rein over the stump of a blackthorn, dashed
on foot into the cover like a foxhound running for blood. St.
Prix's head, about a hundred yards in front of us, was still
visible above the scrub ; and, with that for our guide, Kergoorlas
and I together forced our way as best we could towards the
heart of the cover. Before, however, we could reach the very
spot, the angry growl of the hounds worrying the wolf fell on our
ears. Then came the fighting, tearing, and death-struggle of
the powerful brute, and with it the occasional shrieking howl
of a hound lamed or maimed for life. It was barely half a

70 WOLF-HUNTING.

minute after our arrival ere St. Prix, having lashed Barbe-Bleu
at a safe distance, joined the fray ; and no Irishman at Donny-
brook ever dashed into a row with more alacrity. In he went
into the thick of it, his right hand aloft and his couteau flashing
in the sun. One stroke, quick as lightning it need be, struck
the wolf to the heart, and he fell a lifeless carcase among the
exulting hounds.

After many a fanfare on his and Keryfan's horns, the peasants
crowded in from every point ; and Hercules returning from the
capture of the wild boar of Erymanthus, could never have
received a heartier ovation from the inhabitants of that country
than St. Prix from the wild Breton peasants of this district. He
was their deliverer from the scourge that devastated their little
flocks, and brought their grim poverty to its last pinch ! and to
him they were according their hero worship with a truly grateful
heart. Had he performed this feat of public utility in the days of
magnificent old Rome, a temple " with costly sculpture decked "
would have been reared to his honour, and he promoted to the
skies.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 71

CHAPTER VII.

IN England the mode of entering young hounds to their game
is simple enough. Harriers take to it instinctively, and, getting
their early blood with little difficulty, soon become useful workers.
Fox-hounds require a longer process, the two months of Sep-
tember and October being scarcely sufficient to steady the puppies
from riot and qualify them for the discipline and duty required of
them in the following November. Otter-hounds, however, are
far less readily entered than either of the former, owing, in the
first place, to the scent being, as I hold it to be, an artificial one
to hounds ; and, in the next, to the many blank days that attend
the sport, and to the difficulty of finding, and killing, when found,
that wild animal. Consequently, otter-hounds rarely become
clever and knowing in their work until they have had long
experience, and become, at least, middle-aged hounds. The
famous Carlisle hound Swimmer was never better than in his
tenth season ; and, according to Mr. Carrick, his owner, he did
lots of useful work up to his fourteenth year, when the veteran
died.

To enter hounds on wolf in the wild forests of Brittany,
which, in Finisterre and Morbihan, at least, never lack that game,
might be considered a simple process, and one requiring little or
no trouble from the piqueurs charged with that service. But
the fact is otherwise. Not only is there a vast variety of

72 WOLF-HUNTING.

attractive scent, so tempting to young hounds, in the shape
of hare, fox, martin cat, wild boar, and deer of different kinds,
always to be met with in the covers frequented by the wolf,
but, from the want of " rides " or even footpaths, the covers
themselves are, many of them, all but impenetrable, and so
rocky that it is quite impossible for a score of piqueurs to
check riot when hounds have settled to it in earnest in their
deep ravines. Added to which, the scent of a wolf is at first
distasteful to hounds ; and many a time will a young hound, on
crossing the fresh line, put up every bristle on his back, and,
with strong symptoms of disgust and alarm, take refuge behind
the heel of the nearest piqueur. Nor is this repugnance to the
scent evinced by the cowardly or ill-bred hound ; the most cou-
rageous puppy, famous for its ancestry of high-mettled wolf-
hunters, will equally turn tail on its first acquaintance with the
distasteful scent. The force of example, however, soon cures this
difficulty, and the fire of the pack rapidly kindles a like flame in
the well-bred hound. The covers and the " riot " with which
they abound are the chief hindrance ; nor is this ever sufficiently
overcome to render it safe to throw a pack of hounds into cover
and draw for the wild beast without the aid of a trained limier and
piqueur : the former to mark the line, and by his action to indicate
whether the scent is fresh or stale ; and the latter with his eye,
keen and practised as that of a Red Indian, to detect by slot,
spur, or heel, the nature of the game on which the hound is
drawing on his game.

The ancient process of entering hounds at wolf is described
at length by Jacques du Fouilloux im that quaint work of his
entitled " La Venerie," an authority regarded by the Gallic chas-
seurs of old with the highest respect, and quoted by them as
Beckford is by the houndsmen of this country. It is not remark-
able that " The Thoughts " of the latter, sound in reason as the
arguments of " Blackstone's Commentaries," and published in the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 73

early part of the present century, should still be our chief text-
book in all matters relating to hounds, in kennel or chase ; but
it is very remarkable that Du Fouilloux's instructions, written as
they were in the reign of Henry II. of France, that is, about
1550 A.D., more than three hundred years ago, should continue to
be the French gentleman's chief guide in the science of venery
down to the present day.

The Comte Charles de St. Prix, a thorough houndsman from
his earliest years, looked upon Jacques du Fouilloux as a second
St. Hubert, and had studied his precepts with so much care and
respect, that he was ever ready to quote from " La Venerie," in
support of all questions pertaining to hounds or beasts of chase.
After our grand day at Trefranc the conversation on our home-
ward route turned to the subject of entering hounds at wolf; and,
although he detailed to me minutely the method recommended by
Du Fouilloux, I could see a twinkle in his eye when I inquired if
that was really the practice he adopted in the management of his
young hounds, as I said it appeared to me a process of unneces-
sary trouble.

" Quite true," he replied ; " we now find that waiting for the
wolf to come to us, lying in ambush, is a tedious affair, and
requires more patience than my piqueurs possess. Besides,
shooting the brute before we hunt him is so antagonistic to the
principle of fair play that I have ventured to differ from that
great authority on this important point."

The passage is altogether so quaint and so primitive in its
injunctions that I am quite sure a free translation of it will
amuse, if not astonish, the modern houndsman of this country.
It runs thus : —

" Very necessary is it that princes and grand seigneurs should
have hounds bred from a race that love to hunt the wolf, and
that they should be well-fed together, so that they may become
big, strong, and courageous. And if, peradventure, there should

74 WOLF-HUNTING.

not be hounds already entered to the scent which could train
them to their work, it would be advisable to slaughter a carcase
and place it near a water-mill, on the other side of its small
stream ; and there, within the mill, to conceal a cross-bow man,
armed with his cross-bow and bolt, to shoot at the wolf when he
comes to devour the carcase ; then, having wounded him, let
him bring his young hounds, not more than a year or so old,
and clap them on the blood and trace of the wolf, exciting and
encouraging them to the scent with a goodly company of men.
Thus, by following the trail of the blood, they will at length
come up to the wounded wolf, and, disabled as he is, will bay
around him ; and if he is dead they will paw him with their feet.

" That being done, it would be well to skin the wolf and cook
his flesh, and when it is well cooked to chop it into pieces, and
mixing it with good wheaten bread, milk, and cheese, to stuff it
into the wolf's skin, in order that it might be impregnated with
the odour and taint of the brute. Then sound the horns, open
said skin near the throat and mouth, and let the hounds rush in
and eat the whole. So ought all the first wolves, when taken, to
be thus treated."

The ordinary plan, however, adopted by St. Prix and other
masters of wolf-hounds, considering the variety of riot to which
young hounds are exposed, and the impenetrable character of
the Breton covers, is found to be a safe and successful one.
The limier first warms upon the drag, then a few steady old
hounds are uncoupled, and when they have settled on the scent,
another batch, the next steady to them, are allowed to join the
cry ; and so on by relays, till at length the puppies are thrown in,
and encouraged by shout and horn to take their part in the
exciting chase. Nor is this system discontinued when the season
has advanced, and the young hounds have been well entered, for
the further reason that a Brittany pack is not kept exclusively to
one game, but, on the contrary, is expected to hunt deer, boar,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 75

wolf, and fox, severally, as the season or occasion demands its
use. However, as one hound takes best to this scent, and
another to that, their several fancies are soon ascertained ; and
the relays are formed and thrown in according to the game they
are most inclined to pursue.

Notwithstanding the universal belief in Brittany that wolves
will not attack a human being, however young or defenceless, a
fearful sensation prevailed at Carhaix, a month or so before my
arrival, by the sudden disappearance of a peasant girl from the
neighbourhood of Huelgoet, one of the wildest forests in the
department of Finisterre. The poor little trot, only six years old,
had been left by her parents, as is the common practice of that
country, to take charge of a small black sheep, which her mere
presence was supposed to protect from the attack of wolves
frequenting the adjoining forest. The plot of enclosed ground in
which she was stationed was so overgrown with old broom that a
score of Brittany bullocks might have wandered unseen beneath
its topmost twigs, while here and there, from the densest portion
of it, appeared sundry ominous track-ways, worn by wolves in
their passage to and fro from the neighbouring cover. The
parents of the child, well aware of these signs and the proximity
of those dangerous robbers, yet never for one moment entertained
a doubt either as to her safety or that of her charge ; and great
indeed was their dismay and agony on finding, ere the sun went
down, that no trace of either, beyond a few scattered bunches of
wool, could be discovered in that or the adjoining fields. Tracks
there were, however, in the soil, deep and recent, of the presence
of a huge wolf close to the bank near which the child and sheep
were last seen ; but beyond the wool no other vestige was left to
indicate the too probable fate of both.

Still, the belief of the peasantry in the inviolability of the
human person by a wolf remained strong and unshaken ; and
large parties, aided by the gendarmes of the district, banded

76 WOLF-HUNTING.

themselves together and searched diligently for many days, and
even weeks, in the forest of Huelgoet and the broom fields around.
Fires, too, were lighted in lone spots and kept burning throughout
the night, with the hope of attracting the little wanderer's atten-
tion and rescuing her, if alive, from the starvation to which she
must otherwise succumb. But all efforts proved unsuccessful, till,
at length, hope became extinguished in the hearts of all, save
those of the parents. Some peasants, indeed, in their superstition,
came to the conclusion that the footprints in the mud were those
of the Loup-garou, and that the demon-wolf had carried off the
child ; others thought that, had no such fate overtaken her, the
sight of the wolf had probably scared her from the spot, that she
had then wandered into the forest, and died there from hunger
and exposure. This opinion, after awhile, seemed to be generally
accepted, and further search for the poor child was abandoned by
the public as hopeless and unavailing.

The parents, however, parent-like, still clung to the belief that
their little Marie was not lost to them for ever ; and for many a
weary day they threaded the deepest nooks of Huelgoet, returning
only at late eve, when the howling of the wolves was the sole
sound that fell on their anxious ears, and the pale stars the sole
light to guide them on their lonesome path. Nightly, too, they
burned a resin-candle in the one small window of their cabin,
trusting it might prove a beacon to guide the little wanderer
home.

Six weeks or more had elapsed, and hope, with all, was at its
lowest ebb, when a charcoal-burner, following his lonely avocation
in the heart of the forest, was startled by the apparition of a child
timidly approaching his hut ; this, of course, was little Marie ; but
exposure and want of food had almost converted her into a living
skeleton : her face begrimed with dirt and blackberry juice, her
hair matted with particles of moss and other lichens, making her
head look more like a bird's nest than that of a human being ;

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 77

half clad, too, and wild in manner as any fawn of the forest, no
wonder the simple peasant stared again and again before he could
be assured it was a real child that crept into the darkest corner
of his hut, too timid to speak, and yet pinched by hunger even
to death's door.

A moment's thought, however, convinced him that this must
be the lost child, respecting whom the gendarmes and others
had already paid him sundry visits and, being of a kindly nature,
the man, when he had fed her bountifully with his black buck-
wheat bread and washed her face, lifted her on his broad shoul-
ders and carried her directly home to the cabin of her parents.
Marie's eventful history was soon told: she had left the broom
field in search of blackberries, and on returning to her charge
was just in time to see a huge wolf jump the bank with the little
sheep struggling in its jaws ; the beast at once entered the forest,
and Marie, crying and screaming, and hoping to scare it from its
prey, followed on until she soon became lost in its mazes, and
found it utterly impossible to retrace her steps or distinguish even
the direction of her parents' home. Her sole food had been
beech-nuts, blackberries, and a few chesnuts ; and, although sleep-
ing nightly in the very presence of wolves, she had never been
disturbed for a moment by a sight of the ravenous brutes.

The next morning after the sport at Trefranc we were all
seated round the table of the salle-a-manger, discussing at the
same time the various incidents of the chase and the bountiful
dejeuner provided by the host, when Marseillier's jolly face, always
bearing a happy smile, but now unusually lighted up with some
pleasant intelligence, suddenly appeared in the room ; and, as he
lifted his paper cap and twisted his white apron on one side (for
the cutlets and omelettes were still under his delicate manipula-
tion), he marched up to St. Prix's chair and announced the arrival
of a deputation from Treganteru.

" They have come," he said, " to complain of the damage

78 WOLF-HUNTING.

done to their crops by the wild boars in the neighbourhood of
Laz and Koenig, and entreat your aid."

" They shall have it by all means," said St. Prix, heartily ;
" but show them in, Marseillier, and let us hear what they have
to say on the subject."

In a few seconds, accordingly, six veritable Breton peasants,
all clad alike in dark, long-haired goat-skin jackets, tight canvas
trousers close-buttoned down to the ancle, heavy sabots stuffed
with hay instead of hose, and round-crowned, broad-brimmed hats,
which, with a cluster of long curly locks, fairly overshadowed their
shoulders, entered the room ; and, after lifting their hats in saluta-
tion, and replacing them at once on their heads, the leader of the
party proceeded forthwith to explain the object of their visit.

" We are come," he said in the Breton tongue, " to tell you of
the damage done by the wild boars in our mountain land. Not a
farm from Gourin to Chateauneuf that has not suffered from their
ravages ; not a crop that has not paid a heavy tax to those
plunderers — whole fields of potatoes have been upturned by their
snouts ; and standing corn, where not eaten, has been trampled,
like so much stubble, into the earth. Then, the chesnuts which,
at Kilvern, were wont to supply our families and pigs with so
much wholesome food, were totally demolished this autumn ; in
truth, if something is not done to diminish their number, they will
ruin us all before next winter."

The peasant's earnest appeal, as he stood forward with hand
uplifted above his head, as if calling on a higher Power to attest
the truth of his statement, amounted almost to eloquence, inso-
much that his few simple words went like an arrow to the mark ;
and the Count de St. Prix, in spite of his anxiety to protect, so
far as he reasonably could, the fercz natures of the Brittany forests,
especially the rougher portion of them, at once gave his word that
no effort of his should be wanting to redress the evil of which the
deputation so justly complained.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 79

" Then, Monsieur de St. Prix," said the peasant respectfully,
"will you do us the favour to name an early day for bringing
your hounds to Kilvern ? The moch meur (the big pigs) have made
that cover their head-quarters ; and if you hunt and kill a few of
them, the lesser swine will not be so bold in their depredations."

" What say you, Kergoorlas," inquired St. Prix, " will Monday
next suit you to bring your hounds to join us at Gourin ? We
could then give them a week in those covers, and probably supply
our friends " (bowing to the deputation) " with plenty of good
chesnut-fed bacon for the rest of the winter."

I could see the hitherto solemn faces of the peasants sparkle at
the thought of not only killing but eating the plunderers that had
grown fat on the produce of their small farms ; the idea of retalia-
tion to the extent suggested by St. Prix had probably already
occurred to them, and even now seemed to be sharpening their
appetites in anticipation of the coming day.

" Certainly," said M. Kergoorlas ; " Monday will suit me
exactly ; " and if your hounds meet at Laz on that day, my pack
shall draw Coet-Koenig on Tuesday, and take the alternate days
with yours to the end of the week."

And thus it was agreed, to the great satisfaction of the
peasants, to make Gourin the head-quarters of the hunt, and to
give the boars of Kilvern a rattling such as they had not met
with for many a long year.

The deputation then withdrew into an adjoining salon, where,
by St. Prix's order, they were regaled with food and wine to their
hearts' content, Marseillier himself presiding, and by his pleasant
manner and marvellous tales of the chase establishing himself for
ever as the first of hosts in the peasants' eye. If all the boars'
heads promised to him that morning found their way to the Hotel
la Tour d'Auvergne, I can only say his guests would have no
cause to grumble at the lack of charcuterie in that hostelry for
many a day to come.

8o WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER VIII.

" FRANK," said the Baron de Keryfan to me, immediately after
the interview with the Breton peasants, " we shall have hot work
next week at Kilvern : the whole country will be there, from
Pontivy to Landerneau ; and every peasant owning a musket
or a blunderbuss will bring his weapon, and use it, too, in the
most reckless fashion on that occasion — the slugs at Trefranc
were mere hail compared with the weight of metal deemed neces-
sary at Kilvern : the ' balle-mariee/ which is simply a couple of
leaden bullets screwed into one, is rammed into every barrel when
a pig is the object of the chase ; and this, if it hits not its mark
is apt to glance awkwardly from rock or tree, and create serious
results."

" A pleasant prospect for men and hounds," I replied. " If
that is to be the order of the day, one might as well encounter a
band of armed savages as join these wild Bretons when excited
by the chase. By St. Hubert ! after the pinking you had yester-
day, would it not be safer for you to send a messenger for one of
those Crusader hauberks that hang in your hall at Pen-meur ; it at
least would protect your body from mortal injury, and your head
and limbs might take their chance."

"You're chaffing me, Frank," said the Baron, good-tem-
peredly ; " but, believe me, the storm of random bullets will be
no joke when a pig comes to run short in those hollow glens."

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. Si

" Well, but if the sport is good," said the Count de Kergoorlas,
chiming in, " I'll be bound to say we shall none of us give the
bullets a second thought However, it would probably be
advisable to warn the Kilvern peasants, ere [they leave this house,
that the gendarmes will be sure to attend the hunt, and that
every gun will be seized, if its owner cannot produce his permis-
de-chasse"

" That may deter some few of them," said M. de St. Prix ;
" but the majority of the peasants, whether possessing or riot that
legal qualification, will care no more for the gendarmes than you
do for the Loup-garou, that forest bugbear of our old women
and children. However, give them that hint by all means. I
only wish my hounds, in times past, had suffered as little from the
boars' tusks as the chasseurs from the glancing balls of the
Brittany peasants."

" Do your hounds, then, venture to worry him," I inquired,
when the boar is brought to bay?"

" Aye," said St. Prix ; " they go in at him as if he were a
mere fallow doe ; and it's an awful sight to witness the slashing
and gashing inflicted on the best and bravest of my hounds ere
we are able to give him his coup-de-grace"

"That, of course, you do with your chasse-couteau ; but is it
not a service of some danger to yourself, closing with him at a
time when, maddened with rage and driven to a stand-still, he
catches his wind and charges furiously on every enemy?"

" It would certainly be so," said the Louvetier, " to a man
who does not thoroughly understand the use of his weapon : he
must be cool, too, and know where to strike ; then, his blow
must be quick as a flash of lightning, or it would probably fall in
vain ; and, if so, let the bungler look to his safety."

The use of the rapier has ever been a favourite study with
our continental neighbours j and, as it is a thrusting weapon akin
to the couteau-de-chasse, it will readily be understood how expertly

G

82 WOLF-HUNTING.

the latter may be managed by a man long accustomed to the
exercise of the other. He may not be a hunter, skilled in all the
shifts of a pig or deer when brought to bay, and he may be
profoundly ignorant of the vital spot at which his thrust should
be aimed ; but instruct him on these points, and he will deal his
blow with a quickness and precision unknown by the less adroit
swordsmen of this country. St. Prix's confidence in his couteau
made my flesh creep : no matter where the boar was at bay,
whether with his back bearing against a huge granite rock, or im-
mersed up to his belly in the bed of a brawling brook, the hounds
assailing him in every quarter, and the glare of his wicked eyes
infuriated with fire, St. Prix never hesitated a moment in getting
at him and plunging his weapon, with the rapidity and precision
of a matador, hilt-deep into some vital part — a service of infinite
danger, no doubt ; for, if the point of his couteau were to come
into contact with a bone, and death were not almost the instant
result of his blow, the penalty of his failure would be a charge to
a certainty, and probably a serious gash or two from the animal's
tusks. So, a firm hand, eye and nerve, and, above all, skill in
the use of his weapon, are essential in the encounter; or the
death-wound will not be given with the exact nicety requisite at
such a time.

After the departure of the Kilvern peasants from Carhaix, the
afternoon of that day was pleasantly passed in a visit to the
hounds, quartered as they were in a peasant's cottage hard by
the town. Not an article of the scanty furniture had been
removed for the occasion ; but there, in the chimney-nook still
strewed with its wood-embers, under the table and on the table,
and in a hollow recess of the wall, hitherto claiming the dignity of
the peasant's own bed, lay the swarthy hounds, apparently as
comfortably kennelled after their hard work as her Majesty's
staghounds might be on their luxurious benches at Ascot Heath.
Grievously marked about the head and neck were several of

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 83

them in that last worry at Trefranc ; while a couple or two came
limping along on three legs to meet and welcome the Louvetier,
as he entered the grimy hovel in which they were confined. One
old hound, a grand specimen of the St. Hubert breed, standing
26 inches at the shoulder, and topped by a head and ears such as
Snyders never saw, rose leisurely from the bed-recess and exhibited
a face covered with scars — a recent ugly one, extending from his
cheek-bone to his nose, added dignity, if it did not otherwise
improve his look ; while countless old seams about his neck and
head reminded me of that ancient warrior, Curius Dentatus,
whose body bore the marks of a hundred wounds, and all in
front He was well named " Caesar," for he looked like an
emperor and a conqueror from stem to stern.

St. Prix's remedies were simple enough ; a bucket of water
and a sponge being the sole appliance for all wounds — except,
indeed, where the sores had generated proud flesh, when he
used blue-stone with an unsparing hand. If a wound, however,
was within reach of a hound's tongue, he never troubled it with
artificial treatment, well knowing the all-healing power given by
nature to that member. Half-a-dozen hounds had submittted
very quietly to the sponge and water process — no joke for their
sores under the rough hands of Louis Trevarreg — when it
became old " Caesar's" turn to undergo the same ordeal. I could
see at a glance, however, that he was a hound not to be handled
by a novice ; and that even the experienced piqueur would gladly
have deferred the operation, if his master had not been present
to insist on its performance. " Caesar," said St. Prix, very
distinctly, as he ran the thong through the keeper of his whip
and drew the loop tightly round the hound's neck • " Caesar •
ici, mon enfant j" and out stalked the grand old hound, slowly
and reluctantly, towards the bucket in front of the door. Two
or three deep growls, and a few spasmodic twitches with the
end of his stern, indicated but too plainly that he was in no

84 WOLF-HUNTING.

humour to be handled with impunity ; so, while St. Prix held
him firmly by the head, Louis Trevarreg threw his right leg
over the hound's shoulders, and, grasping them with both knees,
fixed him as in a vice, and at once proceeded to wash out the
wound without further danger. But the storm that had been
brewing now burst forth with a roar of thunder from the hound's
tongue, and flashes of lightning from his angry eyes; and it
was quite work enough for the two powerful men to hold him
securely to the end of the operation. The moment, however,
the fine old fellow was liberated, he came up to St. Prix,
flourishing his stern good-naturedly, as if he meant to apologise
for the trouble he had given and the uproar he had made under
his hands.

The day following this visit to the kennel was Saturday ; and'
as our party was now reduced to St. Prix, Keryfan, and myself—
Kergoorlas having gone to his chateau on the Loire, and the other
chasseurs to their respective homes — Keryfan proposed driving us
to see the lead-mines of Huelgoet, famed for their hydraulic pump,
the handiwork of a M. Juncker, an Alsatian engineer, nearly
related to the great naturalist Baron Cuvier. St. Prix at once
disclaimed all knowledge of, or interest in mining or machinery ;
but, as he said, the drive would be a pleasant one, and, barring a
billiard-table, there was nothing whatever to do by way of amuse-
ment in the dull town of Carhaix, he readily agreed to accompany
us ; and so, by ten o'clock that morning, we were under weigh,
Keryfan handling the ribbons, and the tandem-team stepping
along right merrily at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour —
no mean pace, considering the hill-and-dale character of that
country.

The main roads are always in admirable order, even in Finis-
terre, being under the management and supervision of the French
Government ; but, if the traveller on wheels venture to diverge
from these, he will soon come to inevitable grief. The by-roads

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 85

are supposed to be repaired by the several Communes through
which they pass ; never, however, do I remember seeing a
peasant at work on them ; so that as a rule, in winter, they
have ruts axle-deep, no metal on their surface, and sloughs
or spews everywhere. In fact, many of them, if supplied with
seed and manure, would grow as good a crop of potatoes as
the adjoining fields. I have been in far greater peril riding
sure-footed horses through the mire and spews of these lanes
by night than in the wildest fox-chase I ever joined ; and when
I say that, let me add how frequently it has been my happy lot
to see some glorious days over Dartmoor with Mr. Trelawny's
hounds, and not a few with Mr. Russell over Exmoor, not less
the region of bog, rugged ground, and wild foxes, than its sister
forest on the southern coast. But even Diamond Lane on
Dartmoor, paved as it is by nature with blocks of granite
scattered broadcast on its surface, and some of them far bigger
than bishop's heads, is safe-going — nay, is a fair coach-road
compared with many of those parish tunnels in Lower
Brittany.

Before twelve o'clock our team, the leader of which had
maintained a continuous short canter throughout almost the
whole distance, pulled up at the Lion d'Or, the small inn that
welcomed us on arriving at Huelgoet. The landlord was the
first to rush to the door, and instantly recognising St. Prix, the
Louvetier, and, by virtue of that office, the public benefactor
of his country, it is scarcely possible to overstate the amount of
attention he paid him and us during our short stay at his
hostelry. The man had been a miner himself, and avowed his
intention of accompanying us to the mine, and showing us all
that was worth seeing within its subterranean precincts. So,
starting at once for the works, a distance of more than a mile,
we traversed a wild, picturesque gorge, through which a strong
mountain stream, unseen by the eye, but very perceptible to

86 WOLF-HUNTING.

the ear, rushed and roared 'neath the colossal boulders that
barred its course in vain.

The ponderous machinery, which it was our object to see, has
been at work in the bowels of the earth for a great number of
years night and day, raising, without noise or irregularity, a vast
body of water, four cubic metres per minute, to a height of 750
feet. A column of water, brought in by an aqueduct, and falling
from a height of 200 feet, gives the machine the power of 280
horses ; and thus, by its incessant labour, the mine is kept dry.
We descended by a bucket and rope to a great depth below the
surface of the earth, our host, a man of 16 stone, leading the way,,
and testing, as he affirmed, the safety of the gear for our especial
benefit. The test proved ample, and on alighting in the mine we
were courteously received by the resident Director ; and all the
operations of the men at work, all the movements of the mighty-
machine — a masterpiece of mechanical invention — and the whole
process of separating, by mercury, the silver from the lead (for the
mines include both these ores amalgamated together), were duly
explained to us by that intelligent man. Without pretending to-
enter more fully into the subject, I can only say our subterranean
visit proved to be a most instructive one, and that even St. Prix,
on our return to Carhaix, confessed to having passed a most
agreeable day, and seen with wonder the power and efficiency
of M. Juncker's machine.

The next day being Sunday, the whole town was agog and
stirring long before daylight; heavy, iron-shod sabots clattered
through the streets, and men were hastening from all quarters to
mass, so that, the short service over, they might sally forth to the
chasse with a sense of having done their duty, and without a
scruple of doubt to mar the pleasure of the sport for the rest of
the day. The desecration of the Sabbath was certainly far from
the minds of those ouvriers who, after six days of toil, rested from
their labour, and devoted the seventh — their morning sacrifice

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 87

having been duly offered — to the innocent recreation of body
and mind ; their creed being, doubtless, that " the Sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." You may break,
in some countries — Christian so called — every law, human and
divine, without a throb of indignation or a Word of remonstrance
from the bystanders ; but if you just whistle a lively tune on a
Sabbath day, the woe, woe, of a coming doom is pronounced with
pitiless horror on your profane head.

But a short time ago a friend, possessing an extensive moor in
Scotland, told me the following anecdote : He was walking, he
said, one Sunday morning, near some of his best breeding-ground,
in company with a gillie and a wild young setter, the latter ranging
a-head and disturbing the grouse in every direction. After sundry
growls and angry expressions on the part of the gillie, he turned
round abruptly, and said, "Wull ye whustle the dog, Sir Greville?"
His master, not exactly catching what he said, and making no
immediate response, he exclaimed impatiently, " Wull ye whustle
the dog, Sir Greville ? for 'tis the Saubbuth day, and I mauna
whustle mysel'." And yet this man, who, to save himself and
the birds, had no objection to Sir Greville's going to perdition,
was the most immoral, dissolute fellow on the whole estate ; his
Sunday evenings being especially devoted to the whisky bottle
and other excesses.

But to return to Carhaix. The hubbub in the town about day-
break on a Sunday morning was more than I can adequately
describe. Horns sounded the most discordant notes, dogs yelled,
and men shouted and sacristied across the street, from window to
window, arranging their plans for the campaign, and deciding who
should, and who should not, accompany them to the chase.
Sometimes parties of even fifteen or twenty in number clubbed
together, and, with guns, hounds, and dogs of every description,
fell upon some ill-fated district, and literally combed it clean of
every living thing bigger than a Jenny wren or a cock-mouse.

88 WOLF-HUNTING.

This, of course, would be a desert land for many a day to come ;
but, as the ouvriers* raid was necessarily confined to a certain foot-
distance from the town, it was my usual custom to ride to a point
outside and beyond the circle of their operations, and thifs beat
virgin ground, un-get-atable by these marauders.

In less than half-an-hour after the last dog and chasseur had
quitted the town, the deathlike stillness that reigned over Carhaix
for the rest of the day was something awful. Not even the usual
gathering of women at the well, nor the gossip that accompanied
it, was seen or heard for one moment around that attractive spot ;
and, but for the occasional flitting of a grisette, in gay holiday
attire, from one house to another, the absence of all living creatures
from the streets was absolutely appalling. On the present occa-
sion, however, the monotony of the day was somewhat enlivened
towards the afternoon by the departure of M. de St. Prix's hounds,
horses, and men, for Gourin, which, although but a small village,
and possessing but scanty accommodation, was selected as the
most convenient quarters for the forthcoming campaign.

Lower Brittany, especially that portion of it in the region of
the Black Mountains, is the land of storms ; indeed, had the
ancients fixed upon this country as the kingdom of ^olus, instead
of those seven pleasant little islands in the Mediterranean Sea, it
would, methinks, have been a happier fiction, and far nearer
the truth. Some hours after the party had left for Gourin,
I mounted a well-bred cob, that I had lately bought out of the
Morlaix mail-cart, at a hundred and twenty francs — just four
shillings and twopence less than a five-pound note — and a gamer
animal no man ever crossed. I was scarcely off the flag-stones,
when a thunder-cloud burst overhead, and poured such a deluge
of rain down that, notwithstanding a double-milled great-coat,
warranted waterproof, in which I was enveloped, I was soaked
to the skin in less than half-an-hour. The wind, too, blew a
hurricane ; and the lightning, which seemed to play upon the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 89

sheets of water that covered the road, so terrified my horse, that
twenty times did he stop short, wheel on his haunches, and refuse
to advance a yard further. In the interval of the flashes, the
darkness around was that of Erebus itself; and, but for my
thorough knowledge of the road through the forest of Conveau,
the best wolf-cover in the Black Mountains, I should have
despaired of finding my way to Gourin on that terrible night.
The road is a broad one, however ; and the wind, as it blew
furiously in my teeth from the moment I quitted Carhaix, kept
me well posted as to the direction I was required to keep.

On arriving at the Cheval Blanc, where the chasseurs had
their mess, I found a party of ten or twelve gentlemen all seated
at table, and the supper nearly at an end; and never shall I
forget the hearty welcome I received on making my appearance,
in a half-drowned state, at that festive board. My carpet-bag had
been left for the diligence, which would not reach Gourin till the
following day ; so, discovering this fact, two or three of the com-
pany instantly rose and rushed off for a complete set of dry
clothes for me ; and there and then (they would have it) before
the huge log-fire of their salk-a-manger, I was divested of my wet
garment's, and speedily reclothed in the dry and comfortable
apparel brought me by those kind friends. Need I add that a
pleasanter evening I never spent in my life ?

90 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER IX.

THE great cover of Laz, where M. de St. Prix's hounds were
appointed to meet at eight o'clock that morning, being at some
distance from Gourin, the chasseurs at the Cheval Blanc, some
of them, I fear, with very heavy heads, were up and astir long
before daylight, and, as the wassail of the previous evening had
been maintained to a late hour, the snatches of sleep enjoyed
by the last of the revellers must have been short indeed, and
disturbed to the uttermost extent. The little square in front of
the hotel had been traversed the live-long night by peasants
assembling for the hunt, of whom it would be difficult to say
whether their tongues or iron-shod sabots made the greater
noise ; added to which the horses in the stable hard by, wherein
nothing in the shape of a stall existed, the most unruly being
separated by a bar only from each other, kept up a ceaseless
turmoil and contention during the whole night. Then followed
the inevitable horns ; the performers thereon standing like
maniacs at open windows in their shirt-sleeves, too-tooing for
their lives "Le point du Jour," and disturbing not only every
soul in Gourin, but the affrighted wolves in the neighbouring
forest of Conveau.

The misery of that morning, however hopeful the prospect,
I shall never forget ; and even at this moment the thought of
it strikes a chill upon my bones. The wind was at north-east,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 91

bitterly cold and stormy, and, blowing in fitful gusts, brought
down heavy showers of rain and snow alternately. Still, was
not Laz the meet ? and were there not twelve couple of strong,
roaring hounds, eager to rouse the grisly boar from his lair and
pursue him to the death, even now trotting across the little Place
in front of my window? The very sight of them, as the grey
light of morn enabled me to catch just a glimpse of their mottled
sides, acted on my spirits like an electric spark. I shouted to
" Marie," the stereotyped name of the Breton women, to bring
me my stockings, which, with my other nvida vestimenta, had
been suspended the night before within the chimney nook.
Alas ! my Highland hose had fallen into the live wood embers,
and the mere tops of them, brought in by a young chasseur
with a broad grin on his face, alone remained to attest the
fact ; the rest had been turned into tinder. This was vexatious
enough ; but the unsuppressed laugh of the youth chafed me to
the quick ; and, had he not been a bidden guest of St. Prix's, I
should have certainly hurled him out of the room without farther
ceremony. However, I smothered my wrath as I best could ;
aud, requesting him to throw the rags on the floor, proceeded to
pull on the pair of thin cotton stockings lent me by Keryfan the
night before, my own baggage not being expected by the diligence
before mid-day. But this was only the prelude to far greater
annoyance and discomfort : my hunting-boots, at least the feet of
them, were still sopped with wet ; and although I emptied a lot
of burning wood-cinders and tossed them rapidly to and fro inside
the boots (just as a man shakes shot in a bottle he is attempting
to clean), and then wiped them out with a pocket handkerchief,
my feet in five minutes were wet and cold as a lump of snow.

Few men, however hardy their nature or inured to discomfort,
care to put on dirty boots, to say nothing of wet ones, on a
hunting morning ; but on such a morning as this, ye gods, defend
me from a similar fate for the rest of my life ! Nothing but young

92 WOLF-HUNTING.

blood and the prospect of a day's sport enabled me to " grin and
bear it" on this occasion. Nevertheless, bad as the start was,
my own personal discomfort distressed me far less than the scene
I witnessed inside the stable. Within sight and within a few
yards of the horses a young wolf, three-parts grown, was chained
to the opposite manger : a strong iron muzzle secured his jaws
together, and his wild, wicked eyes told but too plainly the
necessity for such a measure. Every horse in the stable was
sweating with terror • not one, as I afterwards found, had dared
to lie down : my own brave little cob was trembling like a brook-
reed ; not a grain of his corn had he touched, nor a mouthful of
hay. There the wild brute, I was told, had been chained for a
month, and was getting every day more accustomed to horses and
less violent in his struggles for liberty. The latter I could well
believe, as, judging from his lanky, famished look, he was all but
starved to death ; and as to his becoming familiar with horses,
it is quite certain they would never become reconciled to his
company.

The "sacristies" of my friends whose horses had been
quartered in that stable were of little avail: the mischief had
been done j and we mounted, each of us, our trembling steeds
unfed and half-jaded before the work of the day had begun.
The light-heartedness of my companions, however, on our way
to cover soon made us forget this annoyance ; although, from
the rocky and roadless mountain ridge over which we passed
between Gourin and Laz, freshness and the full possession of
his muscular power' were very needful to a horse in his transit
over this broken ground ; and great care was required by the
rider to avoid the grips and rock-holes that presented themselves
on every side. Still, we were all landed in safety, about eight
o'clock, at the cover-side ; so far well, but to have attempted
more with our already beaten horses would have been an act
of sheer brutality. A short consultation ensued ; and a

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 93

suggestion of Keryfan's that we should put up our horses and
run with the hounds, as the peasants did, for the rest of the
day, was at once agreed to as the only solution for this difficulty :
and to it, chilled as I was by my damp clothes and slow riding,
I probably owed my escape on that occasion from rheumatic
fever or a like ailment.

It so happened that the cover-owner was present, the Comte
de Kerjeguz (I hope he will pardon the phonetic liberty I take
with his Celtic name), who, overhearing our conversation, was
kind enough to offer his stables for our use, and, moreover, to
send our horses so far, not a mile off, under the care of his
own servants. Accordingly, this being done, our anxieties
vanished for the day ; every man — and there were six of us
in the same predicament — at once joined the hounds on foot :
an arrangement, as it afterwards proved, by no means disadvan-
tageous to us, as we were thus enabled better to view the sport
and take up our position in rocky and precipitous parts of the
cover, which, on horseback, would have been utterly inaccessible.

The pack was a short one, only eight couple out of the
twelve having been selected for the dangerous duty anticipated
in these covers, the other four — Caesar being conspicuous
amongst them from his great size and badly scarred face — were
chiefly wolfers ; and, partly on that account, and partly because
SL Prix feared the additional risk that a larger body of hounds
would run, these were despatched with the horses to M. de
Kerjeguz's stables. The result, however, did not confirm the
Louvetier's apprehension.

At half-past eight o'clock exactly two couple of hounds were
thrown into cover, on the edge of a ravine, into which several
well-worn paths, hollowed out by use, and bearing the fresh track
of pig on their surface, led directly down to the rocky fastnesses
in the glen below. Not a word of encouragement did the hounds
need ; but, dashing at once into the brushwood, in one second

94 WOLF-HUNTING.

they were out of sight, and, in another, throwing their tongues so
vigorously that an inexperienced hand would have concluded the
game was afoot and they swinging after it like tenor bells. But
St. Prix, at least, knew better ; so did the hounds coupled at his
heels : with ears puckered forward and deep furrows indenting
their faces, indicative of intent thought and earnestness, they stood
mute and still as statues, evidently, however, noting every change
in the cry, and apparently aware that their time for action had
not yet arrived.

Some forty years ago, the well-known Devonshire Squire,
George Templer, had a hound called Guardsman that, so long as
hounds were drawing or even running the drag with much music —
not in those days considered so great a barbarism — never quitted
his horse's heels : but, the moment the fox was really up, then
went Guardsman to the front, and held his own there against all
comers. I have heard Mr. Templer say that the hound was
most valuable to him for that very quality; inasmuch, as
frequently in the deep covers he hunted, when hounds were all
but out of hearing and their notes undistinguishable by him,
Guardsman would let him know the very instant the fox was
found : like an arrow from the bow he sped forth, and never
stayed his course till he had run him to ground or brought the
fox's head home in his own jaws. I speak of sport antecedent to
the period of the " Let-'em-alones," when a pack of foxes were
literally kept in kennel by Mr. Templer and turned out as bagmen
before those hounds, and when horsemen, like the Rev. Henry
Taylor and John Templer, more like centaurs than men, rode over
that rough country as if they were carried by winged dragons, and
not by mere horse-flesh such as we see in the present day ; men,
who so long as honour, manliness, and genial sociality are valued,
will long be remembered in the county of Devon with unqualified
respect and affection.

But, hark back ! I am over the line, and getting somewhat

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 95

riotous ; the two couple of hounds are doubling their tongues
with great animation, and quickly getting farther and farther away
from us into the depths of the cover. Luckily, however, they
are working up-wind, and the faithful echoes, borne back on the
favouring breeze, report progress with the speed and fidelity of
an electric wire. St. Prix, seated on Barbe-Bleu, is silent and
motionless as the statue of Marcus Aurelius in the court of the
Capitol ; every peasant has left him and followed the chase, and
the hounds too, still in couples at his heels, but for the whip of a
piqueur, would have also joined the cry long since. St. Prix
beckons to me and almost whispers (for his ear is still fixed on
the drag) that the boar, in order to be sure that the coast is
clear, invariably retires up-wind to his lair, and almost as in-
variably traverses back over the foiled ground when he is pressed
in the chase; so, pointing to a rocky knoll about forty yards
below us in the cover, he recommends me to station myself at
that point and await the result.

A sudden change in the cry is now noticeable ; 'the hounds'
tongues, hitherto growing every moment more and more indis-
tinct, are now turned towards us, and every note is heard short,
sharp, and earnest, as if the strife had begun and the hounds
were actually on the haunches of the game. Louis Trefarreg,
the chief piqueur, stood by, keeping his eye fixed on St. Prix,
and expecting his order to uncouple some more hounds; but
the Louvetier, hearing the cry draw nearer and nearer, and
suspecting there were more pigs than one afoot, gave no sign
as yet ; the horn only was held in readiness, and one blast from
it would send " the relay " headlong from their leashes.

One, two, three ringing reports from the peasants' guns in the
ravine below made my pulse throb audibly \ a state of excitement
that was not a little increased by my catching an occasional view
of at least four or five large pigs close in front of the hounds ; the
biggest of them, which proved to be an old sow, bringing up the

96 WOLF-HUNTING.

rear, and covering, as best she could, the retreating herd. Their
heads, too, as they galloped over the rocky ground on the oppo-
site side of the gully, were pointing directly for the spot on which
I stood ; and, unless untowardly headed, another minute or two
would bring them within easy range of my smooth-bore ; and, as
both barrels were charged with the balk-mari'ee, I confidently anti-
cipated turning two of them into bacon without the shadow of a
miss or difficulty.

St. Prix, who never carried with his hounds any weapon but
his couteau-de-chasse, had on this expedition, for the sake of the
suffering peasant-farmers, requested his friends to bring their guns,
and to shoot down every pig, young or old, that gave them the
chance of doing so. To myself, as being a novice at the sport, he
was kind enough to give a few cautionary hints, one of which, I
have no hesitation in saying, was the means of saving me from a
dangerous encounter: "Be sure," said he, "when you are
choosing your position for a shot at a pig, not to choose it
too near a run or foot-path, but some yards wide of it ; and
secondly, in case you should wound and not kill your game, it
is always well to station yourself under the horizontal bough of a
large tree, so low that, in emergency, you may spring up, seize it
with both hands, and so lift yourself a few feet above the ground.
This move will securely place you beyond reach of the boar's
tusks, and the animal, thus foiled, will pass instantly on."

The first part of this good advice I had grossly neglected,
not having observed that the portion of rocky ground on which
I stood was completely denuded of moss, and was, in fact, the
well-worn run and highway of the pigs ; so, instead of getting
a broadside shot as they passed, I had to take them " stem on,"
or "fore and aft," as I best could — a manifest disadvantage that
exposed me to imminent danger, and, but for the impending
bough, would probably have brought me to grief. As four of
them advanced rapidly in single file, the old sow being about

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 97

twenty yards astern, and two couple of hounds close on her
haunches, I brought my gun to bear on the leading pig, touched
the trigger, and over he went, dead and motionless as a bag of
sand ; the other three dashed on one side, and keeping a huge
boulder between me and them, evaded my sight ; so my second
barrel was reserved for the old brute now close at hand. Seeing
the dead pig in her path, and doubtless concluding that I was the
cause of the calamity, she charged at once, and with such an im-
petus that no time was left me to choose my aim, or even to guard
against the chance of killing one of the hounds ; so I fired in her
face, and down she came head-foremost at my feet. But the brute
was not dead : my balle-mariee had glanced from her forehead,
and, merely stunning her for a moment, she struggled on her
legs and again came at me with a savage rush. I had just time,
however, to back a yard or two, spring up and catch the friendly
bough overhead ; then, drawing up my legs, she shot under me
and passed instantly forward, with the hounds still at her
heels.

At that moment St. Prix, viewing the single pig, had thrown
in a fresh relay ; and these, some two couple or more, forcing
the pace, soon brought her to bay under a shelving rock within
fifty yards of the cover-edge. Before I could re-load and reach
the spot, St. Prix, on foot, was tearing to the scene, his whip
in his left hand and his couteau gleaming in the right; and,
without pausing an instant or looking out for Vantage-ground,
he went straight into the fray, and with one quick, powerful
stroke of his weapon, the fierce pig rolled dead at his feet.

"Not a hound scratched !" was his first joyous exclamation,
as I hurried forward to lend him, as I hoped, a hand; "but,"
he continued, "my teeth chattered when I saw you take that
last shot : and how old Balafre escaped destruction will be
a mystery to me so long as I live."

" Well, it was a close shave and a snap shot, I admit ; but

98 WOLF-HUNTING.

the old brute charged so unexpectedly and so furiously that
there was little time for reflection; I could not, however, see
the hound when I touched my trigger."

Old Balafre at that moment was giving the most demonstrative
proof of his being not only uninjured, but in the highest condition
of warlike vigour : with the grip of a vice, only relaxed to catch a
fresh hold, his jaws were fastened on the throat of the quivering
pig ; and, even when the peasants, who were employed to carry
off the carcase, attempted to remove it, the hound still clung to
his hold with the savagery of a bulldog.

Both pigs were now borne in triumph to an open space in the
cover below ; whence they could easily be removed on the back
of a Brittany pony to those peasants' farms which had suffered
most from their depredations. Then sounded the death-note
from St. Prix's horn, loud and long, which not only awakened
a wild response from the thousand echoes of the glen, but roused
at least a dozen other horns into action from different parts of the
cover. Nor was the sound an uncertain one to the peasants, who,
to the number of one hundred or more, now gathered together
round the dead prey, and loudly applauded the success of the
chase. Considering the value of the meat to such a population,
living chiefly on farinaceous and vegetable diet — and of that
possessing but a scanty store — it might have been expected
that much jealousy would have been shown in its distribution,
and -that those who had suffered most from the porcine plun-
derers would expect the lion's share of the booty; but, if felt,
there was certainly no such feeling expressed by a single peasant :
no shuffling for the bag ; but, on the contrary, the sport alone
seemed to satisfy all.

The usual council of war — the most tedious of all meetings
as practised by our Gallic neighbours at a cover-side — now
ensued; and after a long discussion, in which. every one present
had something to say, it was determined to clap the hounds on

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 99

the line of the three pigs already viewed, before a fresh draw
was made, especially as they were all full-grown animals, and
immediate sport would be the probable result. One or two
adventurous spirits had long tales to tell about the size and
fierceness of a monster boar that frequented Laz : they knew,
they said, .his very homestead among the granite rocks, over-
hanging the waterfall in the vale below; he was black as ink,
his bristles were nearly a foot long, and his tusks a fabulous size
— every oak-stump on that quarter, on which he used to whet
them, gave token of their mighty strength and gashing power.
St. Prix's mouth watered as they spoke, and gladly would he
have gone at once to search for this monster pig ; but discretion
prevailed, and the thought of saving his hounds from the never-
failing consequences of attacking a " solitaire " turned the scale ;
so away he trotted, cap in hand, in pursuit of the younger and
less dangerous game.

In less than ten minutes from that time, the four couple
of hounds that had already distinguished themselves were again
swinging away merrily on the line of the three pigs ; the peasants,
too, had disappeared, posting themselves at different points of
the cover ; while such of them as possessed not the permis-de-
chasse were hurrying stealthily back to resume the muskets they
had hidden during the short suspension of the chase. That this
was a necessary precaution on their part was clearly demonstrated,
not only by the presence of three or four gendarmes in cocked-
hats and full accoutrements, but by their seizure of one
peasant's gun, the owner thereof not being able to produce the
legal qualification. This episode in the chase would have
unquestionably led to serious results, as the blood of the
peasants was fairly roused, and they were ripe for a row or
any violence needed to rescue the gun and defy the law. But
St. Prix, either informed of the fracas, or coming accidentally to
the spot, most opportunely interposed, and by whispering a few

ioo WOLP-HUNTING.

words to the peasants, like oil on the troubled waters, those
words seemed at once to calm their passion and still the storm :
the crowd separated again ; the peasants returning to the chase,
and the gendarmes marching off in triumph with their one
captured gun.

In the, meantime the hounds were still running hard, triough
several shots had been fired in the same direction, but apparently
without bringing them to a check. At length, after a continuous
burst of wild music for more than two hours, the hounds sticking
like glue to their game, three rapidly successive shots brought
the din of war to a sudden lull ; then almost instantly followed
a ringing blast from Keryfan's horn, and every chasseur, noble,
and peasant, from the cover-head on the Black Mountain down
to the rocky stream roaring at its base, knew the import of that
joyous note; they knew the strife was over, and the chase
brought to a successful end. The three pigs had, one by one,
fallen to the peasants' guns ; and thus far, at least, was St. Prix
made supremely happy by again being able to say, " Not a
hound scratched in the fray."

The peasants, too, rejoiced over the slain; but, as before,
conducted themselves with the utmost propriety, not a murmur
being heard as to the distribution of the meat. The pigs on
an average weighed at least two hundredweight apiece ; and
each being divided, into four quarters, half a hundredweight of
the best bacon-pork fell to the lot of no less than twenty
peasants, making, for the time being, ample compensation to
them for the loss of their chestnuts and the damage done to
their crops in the last harvest. Nor were the boars' heads
promised to Marseillier forgotten ; two of the deputation that
had visited Carhaix remarking that the hospitable reception they
had met with at la Tour d'Auvergne, and the success that
followed it, rendered them his debtors for the rest of their
lives.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 101

The chasse, and the arrangements consequent therefrom, fully
occupied St. Prix and the peasants till the hour of three in the
afternoon j and then, as the ardour of man and hounds had
been somewhat chilled by a heavy snow-storm that blackened
the sky and whitened the ground, the Louvetier announced his
intention of returning to Gourin without further disturbing the
cover — a move that, considering the day's sport and the busy
work expected on the morrow with the Count de Kergoorlas's
hounds, seemed to give general satisfaction.

102 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER X.

HAD it not been for the Baron de Keryfan's kindness to me
at Gourin, I scarcely know how I could have endured, even
for hunting's sake, the filth and discomfort of that wretched
little town. Good company, it is true, will make some amends
for such evils ; but the misery of being forced into bad company
the moment you seek the retirement of your chamber, hoping
for rest but finding none, is indescribable. If the minor evils
of life make up the great mass of human suffering, these at
least to which I allude form no insignificant ingredients in the
bolus we are all compelled to swallow, first or last. This is
not an agreeable subject to dwell upon ; yet I cannot resist the
opportunity it gives me to relate an anecdote I once heard
from a country gentleman. He had taken expensive apartments-
in Park Street during the season of the International Exhibition
in 1851, and had brought his family with him to enjoy the
wondrously attractive novelties congregated therein. The very
first night of his occupation, however, gave him sore proof that
a troublesome tenantry were already in full pre-occupation of
the beds. So the next morning, summoning the landlady to
his presence, he bitterly complained of his disturbed rest, and
announced his intention of not remaining another day in the
house.

" But you've taken the apartments, sir, for four months/' was-

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 103

the indignant reply ; " and, as to the beds, unless you brought the
fleas yourself, I'll undertake to say you'll not find a single flea in
them."

" I fully believe you, madam," said he • " for they are all
married, and have very large families."

This brought the conversation at once to a climax • the lady
flung out of the room in a rage, and the gentleman quitted the
apartments that very day ; nor was he troubled farther with
respect to the tenancy.

Keryfan's experience of hunting-quarters, from the luxury of
Leamington to the bush-life of northern Africa, had warned him to
take certain precautions against the exigencies of this Gourin cam-
paign. A corner of his portmanteau, for instance, was fitted up
in the most convenient fashion, with small bottles of eau-de-
Cologne, spirits of camphor, and a pot of mollifying salve ;
added to which he had brought with him a mosquito net, the
gift of a friendly Bedouin, within the folds of which, saturated
as it had been in a decoction of cedar-wood, he was as safe from
the attacks of all vermin as the Elector of Saxony boasted himself
to be when shut up in the virgin fortress of Konigstein, and
Napoleon was in vain attempting to batter it from the opposite
heights of Lilienstein. Thus protected, Keryfan could laugh at
the foe that drove me and others to madness : but, careful as he
had been of himself, let me do him the justice to say, that self-
comfort in no wise contracted his views with respect to the
comfort of those around him. That pot of salve saved me
from a thousand pangs; and even the net, which had been
laced together through the middle, he divided into two parts ;
and giving one to me, I passed at once from Hades into Elysium,
and became, so far as my pests were concerned, as invulnerable
as Achilles after he had been dipped in the Stygian lake.

By the invitation of the Count de Kergoolas, a large
additional party of chasseurs had arrived at Gourin from his

104 WOLF-HUNTING.

own country on that side of Upper Brittany contiguous to La
Vendee, in former days the classic hunting-ground of the Bourbon
kings and the old noblesse of France. The little town was
already full to repletion ; and it was only by extraordinary shifts
and contrivances that night-lodging could be obtained for the
numerous guests ; for instance, Keryfan, giving up his room to
four of Kergoolas's friends, contented himself with a mattress on
the floor of mine, while St. Prix, to whom had been allotted the
state apartment at the Cheval Blanc, accommodated a like
number : the grooms, kennel-men, and even the valets, all to a
man, slept in the hay-lofts adjoining their respective stables.
Every night several of these men were more or less intoxicated j
and as they staggered about with a pipe perpetually alight in their
mouths, and often with a smouldering wood-ember, suspended
by a small wire tongs to their wrists, from which they borrowed
the fire, the wonder was that the whole town was not reduced
to a heap of ashes before the end of the week : as it happened,
however, the only casualty that occurred -befell a small outhouse,
in which one of M. de Kergoorlas's piqueurs, with three couple of
hounds, was quartered. The man had retired to his domicile in a
state of helpless intoxication, and, heedless of the live ember sus-
pended from his wrist, had cast himself upon the heap of straw in
company with the hounds. Fortunately the straw was somewhat
mouldy and damp, or he and the three couple of hounds would
speedily have been reduced to so many heaps of calcined bones.
The fire, however, gradually gained ground ; and at length burn-
ing some of the hounds, they set up such a wail as never was
heard in Gourin before. Kergoorlas, either suspecting the mis-
chief or recognising the tongue of his hounds, was the first to
reach the hovel ; and, bursting open the door, he seized the
recumbent piqueur by the leg, dragged him, still in a state of
unconsciousness, to a heap of manure hard by, and then, with
half-a-dozen peasants, soon extinguished the flames. A hound

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 105

called Caporal, a red, rough, Brittany tufter, had been consider-
ably singed and blistered ; but the rest of them, man and all, had
escaped miraculously ; while the hunting-cap, that had fallen from
the piqueur's head, had been burned to a cinder.

There is a popular old hunting song, in which the music of
hounds in full cry is described as a "musical din/' but the expres-
sion is not a happy one, and would far better describe the clatter
of horns that roused every soul in Gourin, set the hounds baying,
and the bowels of every horse in commotion, a long hour before
daylight on the morn of the Kcenig hunt. Soon after seven
o'clock, while yet the pall of night was hanging in heavy, misty
clouds over the little town, but gradually growing into a lighter
and less sombre hue, M. de Kergoorlas, with eighteen couple of
hounds at his horse's heels, jogged leisurely past the Cheval
Blanc. The picture would have been one of infinite beauty to
a houndsman's eye, had there been light enough to enjoy it ;
but so dark, rufous, and grisly-grey in colour was the whole pack,
that it was impossible to distinguish the figure of individual
hounds as they trotted past the hotel in that murky gloom.
Afterwards, however, both in the field and in their several kennels
— for they occupied at least three peasants' cottages — ample
opportunity was afforded for inspecting the distinctive points of
these magnificent hounds.

The race of all French hounds, claiming a pedigree, is usually
traced, or rather attributed, to the blood of St. Hubert, a good
bishop who hunted the country of the Ardennes about the year
1680, and whose representatives, occupying the monastery of that
saint, paid an annual tribute of young hounds to the French
kings, addicted to the chase, in the Middle Ages. From the
royal patronage bestowed on these hounds, it is reasonable to
infer that their blood found its way into every kennel of the
land ; and, prized as we know it to have been for power of
nose and perseverance in chase, great care and attention were

io6 WOLF-HUNTING.

doubtless bestowed on the purity of the breed for many genera-
tions. Hence, if anywhere a trace of the blood still exists, it
may fairly be looked for in the Vendean land, the favourite
hunting-ground of royalty, and the country, par excellence, of grand
packs established for ages. To Lower Brittany, too, the same
argument would apply even in a stronger degree ; inasmuch as
that peninsular land, so isolated from the rest of France, and so
unvisited by innovation, once possessing the blood, would be
more likely to preserve it pure among its ancient kennels, than a
country more frequented by strangers and the changes incidental
therefrom.

But M. de Kergoorlas laid no claim to the remote age of St.
Hubert for the pedigree of his hounds : he would, however,
descant for hours on the success he had achieved in resuscitating
the old Vendean race, effete and worn-out by in-breeding and
long prejudice, and in producing a hound that for good nose,
driving power, and endurance in chase, was far superior to the
heavy, soft-skinned, bell-mouthed animal described by du
Fouilloux in "La Venerie," and still found in the Vendean
country. He had bred them, he was wont to say, by perpetually
infusing fresh blood among the pack he inherited, and always
going to the stoutest kennels of which he had record. To St.
Prix he was especially indebted for many a useful cross ; and from
his kennel he had derived those grand, brown-grey or fulvous-
coloured hounds of which he was so justly proud. The Royal
Vendean hounds are described by the French writers as being
milk-white in colour, and fine as satin in their coats : but, if this
was the case, these characteristics have been long since out-bred
and obliterated in M. de Kergoorlas's pack, not a hound of which
had a patch of white upon him, nor was there a smooth coat among
them. The bold appearance of these hounds was quite remark-
able j standing 25 inches at the shoulder, and carrying their long-
feathered sterns well arched over their backs, with high crowns,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 107

long faces, and silky ears, and above all, with good legs and feet
below, they looked all over a working lot, and admirably adapted
for the rough game and rough country in which they were bred.

Kergoorlas, as we jogged along together towards the meet
at Koenig, took great pains minutely to describe the merits of
individual hounds to me ; and seemed to be highly pleased with
the favourable remarks I could not help making on their grand
and workmanlike appearance.

" In colour," said he, " they are assimilated to that of the boar,,
the wolf, and the fox, the wild beasts they were bred to pursue :
and, if I may venture to say so, in fierceness and fleetness they
are a fair match for the stoutest of those animals."

" I doubt it not," I replied ; " for they look strong enough
and bold enough to run down a buffalo, and hold him after-
wards."

" Not quite that : but it is really wonderful how firmly they
will hold a boar, no matter how big or how fierce he may be :
they take him fore and aft, under the shoulder and behind the
hams ; and when four or five couple have fixed their fangs into
his hide, no power of his can shake them off; nor will they
relax their grip till I have buried my couteau in his heart's core.
But sometimes, alas ! a courageous young hound will catch him
by the ear ; and then follows the usual sad result — a fearful
gash, that too often ends fatally."

Considering that M. de St. Prix on the previous day had only
worked four or five couple of hounds at a time, I ventured to ask
Kergoorlas if the pack, numbering eighteen couple, was not a
dangerously large one for the adventurous work of hunting the
boar?

"St. Prix would think so, unquestionably," was his ready
reply ; " but he lives in perpetual dread of accident to his hounds ;
and his misery, when one is wounded, is quite painful to witness.
Proper caution is of course commendable ; but, to forecast the

io8 WOLF-HUNTING.

form of care in the hunting-field must detract largely from the
pleasure of the chase. I love a crack of music ; and, to secure a
full volume, eighteen couple of hounds are not one too many :
then, in full cry, it is indeed a glorious treat to listen to them in
these rocky glens : it is like a peal of musical thunder rolling
around you. So I run all risks, and uncouple every hound I have
for the sheer enjoyment of this pleasure."

The weather now gradually improving, and the pleasant chat
about hounds in which, at every step among that rugged scenery,
my companion and I indulged, rendered our ride to cover that
morning a most enjoyable one. Every word that fell from his lips
were those of a houndsman, dearly loving the chase ; and all the
details incidental to the breeding of a pack and its management
in the field, into which he entered, indicated a knowledge of
woodcraft far in advance of his compatriots, among whom I
sojourned in Lower Brittany. Even St. Prix, who had devoted
his life to hounds, might have gleaned many a corn of useful
information from the field of Kergoorlas's experience, as the latter
had moved in a wider circle, and, like Ulysses, had not travelled
without observation.

It is not given to all, however, to see and observe. Three or
four years ago, two gentlemen of considerable book-knowledge,
both having taken high honours at Oxford, started from a city in
the West of England on a tour through Spain, Greece, and the
islands of the Archipelago, purposing to devote at least two years
to the full enjoyment of this expedition. At length, as the time
came round for their return, it is impossible to overstate the
interest it created among their acquaintance in the aforesaid
town. Dinner-parties vied for their company; and people,
whose inhospitality had become a proverb, threw open their
doors once more to welcome the gifted travellers. The mirage
of the desert, however, was not more illusive than the hope of
these friends. To every question asked respecting this or that

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 109

town, with its old-world memories and classical associations, the
disappointing answer referred only to the quality of the cooking
and the character of the hotels : " A miserable mixture was the
Olla-podrida of Andalusia, although Ford lauds it as food fit for
the gods ; and, as for the Gazpacho, the stomach of a Devonshire
reaper would rebel at its intrusion ; what else could you expect
from rancid oil, vinegar, garlic, and dirty cooks ? " Again, " As
to Chios (the birth-place of Homer), where at least we hoped
to get palatable wine, we found it simply execrable. What
Lord Palmerston said to Mr. Gladstone, when the latter pro-
duced at his table a bottle of Ionian wine, the fruit of his
visit to the Seven Islands, might truly be said of the Chian
wine, 'Apio-rov f^ev vScop.' " Such is a veritable specimen
of their general answer; the comfort or misery of their
daily fare appearing to be the sole impression left upon their
memories.

Owing to the serious damage done to their crops, the peasants
of the district had taken care to promulgate far and wide the
meet of M. de Kergoolas's hounds at Kcenig on that day ; conse-
quently, a large gathering of sturdy Celts, yet not a man of
them standing more than 5 feet 6 inches high, clad in all the
variety of costume peculiar to the Communes ranging from
Rostrenen to Scaer and Rosporden, converted the usually quiet
cover-side into a scene strangely picturesque and gay. But for
the friendly greetings and pleasant badinage perpetually going
on, the crowd, armed as it was with muskets of mighty length
and antique form, might have been easily mistaken for a band
of insurgents bent on some desperate adventure. The weapons,
too, had probably most of them belonged to the Chouans, who,
in the Royalist insurrection of 1792, maintained that desperate
guerilla struggle against the Republican Army with such extra-
ordinary persistence and success, and who were chiefly Vendean
and Brittany peasants.

1 1 o WOLF-HUNTING.

That was a very serious affair when the game was man ; but
in this case, where the gathering was purely a social one organised
for the sake of sport and the capture of a few pigs, well might it
be one of happy prospect and joyous anticipation ; and verily the
peasants made it so, for they chatted and laughed with so much
exuberance that, had it not been for the sudden and very unwel-
come appearance of two gendarmes in full martial costume, it
would have been difficult to understand what arrangements Ker-
goorlas had made for the chase of the day. The hubbub, how-
ever, was hushed in a moment ; and it was quite evident that the
presence of Mephistophiles and the Demon Huntsman of the
Black Forest would have been a far more acceptable addition
to the party than that of the two officers now mingling in the
crowd. The old loyal spirit is still alive and strong in the breast
of the Breton ; and if ever another Larochejacquelin comes to
the front to maintain the cause of royalty, it is quite certain he
will not lack followers among the nobles and peasants of Upper
and Lower Brittany. Here they ever have been and ever
will be Bourbonists to the backbone ; nor will the carnage per-
petrated by Marceau, nor the atrocities of the Convention ever
be forgiven.

Then, by way of rousing the peasants from the sudden chill
caused by the cocked-hats, Kergoorlas addressed them aloud :
" Friends," he said, " the boars are plentiful in Koenig, and the
hounds eager for the chase. Let me ask you to repair at once to
your several posts in the cover ; to be careful where you stand ;
and, above all, not to fire when the hounds are in conflict with a
boar. The chase will now commence."

Not more instantaneously was Roderick Dhu's wave of the
hand obeyed by his hardy clansmen than the signal given by
Kergoolas to his Breton " field."

" Each warrior vanished where he stood,
In broom or bracken, heath or wood ;

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. in

Sunk brand and spear, and bended bow,
In osiers pale and copses low ;
It seemed as if their mother Earth
Had swallowed up her warlike birth."

The disappearance of the peasants was almost immediately
followed by that of their natural enemy the gendarmes, who,
having been successful on the previous day in capturing a
musket, made a show at least of doing their duty on the present
occasion, and pursued the peasants' track with the pertinacity
of two sleuth-hounds. Already had the piqueurs, at break of
day, ascertained with the Lymers that several boars had entered
the cover, and that one of unusual size had gone singly to his
lair in a pile of rocks overhanging the river. This, in Louis
Trefarreg's opinion, was the great boar of Laz, the terror of
the peasantry for miles around. The ferocious brute had
probably, he thought, taken alarm at the din of war that had
disturbed his "ancient solitary reign" in that cover, and had
shifted his quarters to this stronghold in Kcenig; and, if so,
the piqueur predicted serious danger to men and hounds in
forcing him to break away from this granite fortress. However,
M. de Kergoolas did not hesitate a moment, but, treating the
vaticination as emanating from an over-careful servant, rather than
an experienced hunter, he ordered his men to uncouple a lot of
old hounds, and to clap them at once on the track of the boar.

I had again, with M. de Kerjeguz's kind permission, sent my
horse to his stables ; so, with no other impedimenta beyond the
necessary ammunition, I shouldered my smooth-bore and dashed
after the cry. No one, who has not followed a deep-mouthed
pack of hounds in rocky and woodland glens, can form an
adequate conception of the grand volume of music produced in
such places by the united choir of echo and hounds ; nor can I do
better than describe it in the language of the million-minded Poet,
who, in his " Midsummer Night's Dream," could not have painted

1 1 2 WOLF-HUNTING.

the scene so faithfully, if he had not himself heard the " sweet
thunder" of Sir Thomas Lucy's or some other Warwickshire
Squire's hounds :

"Never did I hear

Such gallant chiding ; for besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near,
Seemed all one mutual cry. I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder."

Ten couple of these huge rough hounds, in the full enjoyment
of a fresh drag, on which every hound threw his tongue freely,
might well be a sound to gladden a hunter's heart; but, so
filled was the valley with the reiterations of a thousand echoes,
that it was impossible to make out in what direction the hounds
were pointing; and had it not been for the worn, wet paths,
impressed by the footmarks of the eager pack, which I traversed
with rapid strides, I should have missed seeing the grandest
passage in the day's sport, namely, the rousing of the boar in
that pile of rocks. Verily, he was a monster, but active as a
mountain cat, in spite of his Ungainly shape and huge size.
When first found, he was lying in the open, under cover of an
impending ledge, mantled with ivy and stunted oak ; but the
ground being exposed, and at some distance above the grand
clitter, he rapidly descended the broken ground, bounding like
a chamois from the head of one boulder to another, clearing
chasms in his stride, and at length disappearing in a subterranean
passage beneath the rocky mass. Several shots had been fired by
the peasants ; but whether or not he had been wounded at all was
a matter of much doubt among those who had reserved their fire.

The fate of the hounds became now a matter of the most
intense interest to all. The whole pack had been uncoupled,
and were hard and close upon his quarters as the brute took
refuge in the superincumbent mass. In one instant every hound
was lost to sight ; and then commenced an uproar and a wailing
such as torture only could upraise — the shriek of hounds in their

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 113

agony ! Kergoorlas had not yet arrived j but St. Prix, standing
on the top of a boulder and listening to the murder, seemed
for a moment petrified with horror. Descending at a bound,
however, from this pedestal, he and a dozen peasants after him
at once rushed forwards, and clambering as they best could over
the huge fragments of granite that barred their course, they
soon gained the spot under which the fray was surging with a
terrible din.

" He'll murder every hound of them," shouted St. Prix, seizing
his horn and blowing it like a madman ; but this taking no effect
upon the combatants, he quickly laid it down, and springing to
the base of the rocks, on the very brink of the river, he drew his
conteau, and was about to crawl, for he could not walk erect, into
the hollow chasm where the fight was going on. Keryfan seized
him by the arm, however, and with the timely aid of three or four
peasants dragged him forcibly back. " Stay, M. de St. Prix," said
one of them, " enter not there, or you'll rush to certain death.
Let us light a fire behind the boar ; and that, my word for it, will
unearth him at once."

To this proposition he reluctantly gave way j and, in a few
minutes a pile of heather, fern, leaves, and dead wood were
dropped through a cranny exactly over the spot known to be the
far end of the cavern, and probably exactly upon the boar. Then
a whole box of lucifer matches was cast in a state of ignition right
into the heather, and in a few seconds a dense volume of smoke,
followed by a roaring flame, shot upwards. Instantly the rattling
of pebbles and a strange rumbling commotion was heard below ;
and, almost before a peasant could snatch up his gun, the huge,
swarthy beast burst out, and, dashing into the bed of the torrent,
swam straight for the opposite shore. Before he landed, how-
ever, the messengers of death were hard upon him. Pierced by
several shots at the same moment, he rolled a lifeless carcase on
the river's edge. His lower tusks were seven inches in length,

i

ii4 WOLF-HUNTING.

and he was said to weigh nearly 4 cwt. A grander brute
neither Kergoolas nor St. Prix had ever seen ; and, as may be
supposed, the homage they received from the peasantry was
only such as the ancients were wont to pay to demigods who
had rid them of some terrible enemy.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 115

CHAPTER XL

ERE a single horn had proclaimed the " mort" and while yet the
monster boar was lying with his head and feet on the gravelly
bank, and his hind legs still quivering in the stream, St. Prix on
hands and knees was crawling into the cave — the first, as he
always was, to give aid to the suffering hounds. Fourteen
couple only had crossed the river ; while three shivering, limping
hounds, out of the remaining four couple, were standing on the
water's edge, as if utterly unable to stem the torrent in their
maimed and helpless condition. Five hounds were therefore
wanting to complete the number of the hunting pack.

An interval of more than ten minutes had elapsed, during
which time many a peasant volunteered to enter the cave, exhi-
biting intense anxiety for the fate of the hounds ; when St. Prix
again appeared on the surface, dragging after him a hound by
the hind legs, literally disembowelled and dead. The four others,
he said, had been so cruelly mauled that, not being known by the
hounds, he dared not handle one of them. M. de Kergoorlas's
chief piqueur, the very man who had been nearly roasted with his
hounds in the shed at Gourin, then stood forward, and, divesting
himself of his goat-skin jacket, entered the gloomy aperture.
One, two, three, four were at length brought out singly and
tenderly by the patient piqueur ; and a more piteous scene was
never witnessed.

u6 WOLF-HUNTING.

" How was it possible for them to escape," said St. Prix, ener-
getically, " when eighteen couple were crowded together in that
narrow cavern, cheek by jowl with that terrible tusker ? It is a
mystery to me that so few have been killed ! "

" Too many, too many ! " said Kergoorlas, with a groan ;
" but who could foresee that the brute would run to ground, and
there butcher my hounds in this fashion ? "

Two out of the four died almost immediately after their
wounds were washed ; another having several of his ribs
protruding through the skin, and his stomach rent, was destroyed
on the spot ; while the fourth, sorely maimed, was carried to a
distant cottage on a goat-skin jacket, which, with a peasant at
each corner, served the purpose of a most convenient ambulance.
An old army surgeon was fortunately present, and spared no
pains, with brandy, bandages and needle, to alleviate the misery
of the other wounded hounds.

For a short time only, however, did this episode cast a gloom
on the general field ; most of whom cared little about the hounds,,
but were deeply interested in the destruction of the swine that
had ravaged their crops, and terrified the women and children
throughout the district. The hounds, as yet, had scarcely done
an hour's work ; and fourteen couple, a larger pack than St. Prix
ever used for boar, were available and fresh for further operations.
About a league from the ground where the carnage described
took place, up stream and in some thick scrub hanging under the
mountain-brow, several full-grown boar had been harboured by the
piqueurs ; and, as that part of the forest had been quite undis-
turbed, the hounds were trotted thither without much delay.

The evil of working too large a pack for boar could not have
been more severely exemplified than in the recent massacre,
although the circumstances, to be sure, were somewhat excep-
tional j the cavern proving a fatal trap in which the mischief was
aggravated by numbers ; and the animal hunted being a " soli-

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 117

taire? one of the fiercest and most powerful of wild beasts.
So, when M. de Kergoorlas, with his love for a full choir of
music, cast off again his whole pack, he might fairly calculate
on neither running a pig to ground, nor finding another "soli-
taire " for that or many a day to come. But this consideration
did not prevent St. Prix from impressing upon him the doctrine of
which he was himself so practical an observer : " Better slip three
or four couple at a time, Kergoorlas," I heard the Louvetier
remark • " and then throw in your relays — when the first have
well settled on the game you mean to hunt."

But no j the master of his hounds would be master still ;
fourteen couple were cheered to the drag, and in less than half-
an-hour three pigs were viewed in the distance, pointing downhill,
and galloping in frantic fright for the river below. Being in single
file, and following a leader, the hounds did not divide ; and as the
pigs plunged across the rapid stream, in helter-skelter hurry, even
Kergoorlas's love of sylvan music must have been more than
gratified by the wild harmony awakened in the glen. Nor was it
all mere towling, for four or five couple of hounds were dashing

"Abreast, like horses of the sun,"

into the gurgling waters, before the last pig could shake his
bristly hide on the opposite bank. Crack, crack, went a
smooth-bore within a few yards of the rock on which I stood ;
and I saw that Keryfan, taking a snap shot at the hindmost
pig, had rolled him headlong into the scrub. Instantly, however,
he rose again, and hobbling back into the stream on three legs,
he stood there at bay up to his belly in water, confronting the
whole pack. " Now then for more mischief/' I said to myself;
and scarcely had the thought crossed my mind than the boar
charged, and I saw one hound at once float down the stream
as helpless as a lumber-log — again, quick as lightning came the
thought that, unless instant aid were given, the best hounds
would be murdered or maimed wholesale in no time. Keryfan,

1 1 8 WOLF-H UNTING.

too, saw the danger ; and descending the steep ravine with the
impetus of a kangaroo, reached the water's edge in time to stop
another charge. His ballc-mariee then, at the distance of only
ten yards, put an end to the fight, passing through both shoulders,
of the beast, and rolling him dead into the hounds' jaws.

At that very moment St. Prix was on the spot, his couteaic
bared, and he in the very act of springing into the thick of the
fray ; he paused, however, on the brink of the stream, as the
report of the smooth-bore rung on his ear ; and it might have
been fancy, but I could not help thinking a shade of disappoint-
ment passed over the fine fellow's face, as the adventurous work
of closing with the boar and delivering the hounds from their
instant danger was suddenly snatched from his hand. If it were
so, the cloud vanished without breaking ; and he turned round to-
thank Keryfan heartily for the ready help he had given the
hounds. The pig was a tusker, and pronounced to be three or
four years old : his lower tushes, calculating that portion of them
imbedded in the jaw, were about six inches long, not much
curved, but sharp and pointed as a barking knife; a pair of
terrible weapons in a close fight. The peasants point out the
stumps of oak trees on which they whet their tushes by way of
keeping their armour in order ; and as many of the trees near the
water's edge were scored and seamed deeply all round their boles,
they afforded pretty good proof that the boar of Kcenig were not
only a numerous, but a very warlike race.

Louis Trefarreg, St. Prix's first piqueur, was so thoroughly
versed in all the habits and slot-signs of the beasts he hunted,
that he could approximately tell the size and age of a wolf or boar,
not only from their track-marks in the ground, but he could gauge
the height of the latter by the altitude at which he had scored the
trees in whetting his tusks ; every inch in the length of the boar's
legs enabling him to strike higher or lower according to their length.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 119

When the bristles from the last pig killed were extracted from his
neck (a process immediately undertaken by some Cordonnier
peasant, if he is not interfered with), the difference in size and
strength between them and the bristles of the "solitaire" was quite
remarkable; the latter being more like wire-rods than the growth of
a pig's back; long, strong, and stiff as an awl — the very requirement
adapted for the cobbler's use. No wonder then that these con-
noisseurs pounced with such avidity on so tempting a prize ; nor
that their discomfiture was expressed in bitter terms, when Louis
Trefarreg prevented them, as he sometimes did, from indulging in
this spoil. A fight, St. Prix told me, had more than once
occurred between the piqueur and the spoiler over a dead
boar ; but that, in every instance, Louis had proved himself
the better man. On the present occasion our pastime was
undisturbed by the semblance of a broil ; on the contrary, while
the " mort" was being sounded, and the usual obsequies duly
enacted over the fallen prey, every bristle was extracted from its
neck ; and, in the absence of the gendarmes, not one of whom
intruded on the scene, all went smoothly and merrily as a mar-
riage bell.

It has been already remarked that our Gallic neighbours, pre-
vious to the business of entering on the chasse, are the most deli-
berative of human beings ; and now, even with the game afoot
and before them, much useful time was wasted in deciding how
the pursuit of the two other pigs should be continued ; one party
deeming it best to clap on the hounds at once from the river,
and to stick to the line of scent ; the other preferring to lift the
pack and throw them into a thick scrub-cover, about a league
off, into which it was pretty certain the pigs had gone. St. Prix
and his piqueur stoutly advocated the latter plan, explaining
how it would rest the hounds and tell against the game; but
" music won the cause," Kergoorlas deciding that, if the hounds

120 WOLF-HUNTING.

were lifted so far, they should lose so much sweet hunting, and
probably not hit upon the line again.

" It appears to me," he said pointedly to St. Prix, " that the
month you spent with Mr. Brockman's hounds in East Kent has
warped without improving your former good judgment on
Brittany hunting. You could not have gone, so Keryfan says, to
a better school for a lesson in fox-hunting ; but a fox and a
boar are two different animals."

" So they are, Kergoorlas ; but why you should prefer
trailing with a cold scent over a long league of rough country,
when you could clap your hounds quietly and quickly on the
very back of the boar in half the distance, beats my compre-
hension."

The remonstrance was in vain ; and in a few minutes the
hounds, cheered to the scent, were picking it along merrily,
but certainly not with that crash of music which was the delight
of Kergoorlas's heart. Gradually, however, it improved; and
in half-an-hour, as the hounds entered the scrub-cover, the
" field " being a mile behind, and scattered in every direction, a
roar of thunder burst on our ears, and told of hot work in the
cover above. .Then came the blast of many horns, announcing
" the boar afoot " with a din that, like Virgil's Fame, seemed to
gather strength as it went rolling along the valleys below ;

until

" Tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures."

The peasants, rejoicing in the well-known signal, hastily
planted themselves, in small groups of twos or threes, at various
points by which the chase was likely to pass. Some occupied
the summit of a granite boulder far above the reach of the
tusky foe; while others, preferring the ambush afforded by
the trunk of a tree, took equal care to post themselves under
an impending bough, into which, in case of attack, they could
instantly spring out of harm's way. Keryfan, who was standing

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 121

near me, listening attentively to the cry as the hounds' mouths
were turned towards us, now suddenly started, and, turning to
to me, he said, confidently, " The hounds have changed ; hark !
that's St. Prix's horn sounding ' Le Loup, vrai canard :' he
must have viewed a wolf, in spite of the signal given, ' Le
Sanglier,' by the other horns."

He had scarcely spoken when, crossing an open space below
us, a gaunt, grey old wolf went lopping along over some stony
ground, his both ears pricked well forward, as if he expected
foes in front as well as behind, and his stealthy gait betokening
intense fear; he of course saw us, but as there were several
peasants posted on the opposite side of the glen, he held on
straight down the valley, pointing for the great cover below.
Our both barrels were raised simultaneously; but before a
trigger was touched, either by Keryfan or myself, we saw him
stagger forward, and then instantly heard the reports of at least
three guns fired at him by peasants lying in ambush within fifty
yards of the spot.

" Bravo ! " shouted Keryfan ; " they've stopped the riot, at
all events ; he must be hard hit ; a body-shot or a leg broken
for certain : let's after him."

The hounds were now not a hundred yards from the wolf,
rattling on like a storm of hail in his rear ; and it occurred to
both of us, if we could but catch another view of the wounded
brute and give him his coup-de-grace quickly, we should probably
save the leading hounds from a terrible and disastrous encounter.
So rushing at once forward, Keryfan diverging towards the river
and I still holding to the upper ground, we both managed to
view him again as he limped heavily towards the stream and
was about to cross it for the opposite shore. This, however,
it was not fated he should do : for Keryfan and myself, firing
four barrels into him, killed him almost instantaneously. The
pack then rushed in, and every hound seizing his mouthful of

122 WOLF-HUNTING.

hide, a fiercer worry was never witnessed. But they did not
" tear him and eat him," after the manner of English foxhounds
running into their game : they did not even break a particle of
his skin, and scarcely disfigured the thick, close jacket in which,
his carcase was encased : yet, for at least half-an-hour, every
tooth in their heads and every muscle in their bodies was.
concentrated on the wolfs body, biting, shaking, and dragging
it furiously.

This had been an old Tartar and the scourge of the neigh-
bourhood for years : his four front teeth, above and below, were
worn down to the gums ; and his once formidable " holders,"
broken and blunted by age and use, had been reduced to mere:
stumps. He had frequently been found by St. Prix's hounds ;:
but invariably, on breaking away, had stuck to an interminable
line of covers fringing the Black Mountains ; and reaching the
forest of Dualt, had either thrown them off by a change with
another wolf or run them into dark night. His head was more
than grey, it was almost white ; and doubtless, had his legs been
as lissom as on former occasions, he would not now have
turned short and run into the very jaws of death. The exultation
of the peasants over this, their old enemy, was expressed in the
strongest terms ; and, if St. Prix had been capable of jealousy,
it might easily have been aroused by the laudation which, on
every side, he heard bestowed on Kergoorlas's hounds : for to
them alone was attributed the fate that had at length overtaken
this ancient and shifty robber.

In reality the hounds had been guilty of a great fault, and
no man knew it better than St. Prix • they had changed, while
in full chase, from one scent to another; and, in the deep
forests of Brittany, where so many kinds of game abound, the
disposition to change is looked upon as a serious blot in the
character of their hounds, and the habit simply as the reckless
riot of an untrained pack. So, when the Breton peasants were

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 123

lauding the hounds, Kergoorlas was busy in apologizing for
their misdeed :

"I know," he said, " the wolf must have jumped up in view
before them, and so lifted their noses from the old scent. I
had hoped the frequent infusion of the grey-griffon blood — and
that, too, of your kennel, St. Prix — had cured that love of
change so inherent in the smooth Vendean hounds."

" A mere accident," responded the Louvetier, " to which the
best bred and best trained hounds in the world would always be
liable : a view is a'fatal temptation at all times."

Kergoorlas was very proud of his hounds, and for many
years had devoted the closest attention to the improvement of
their blood as well as to their discipline in the field : and,,
although St. Prix's observation was perfectly true, it scarcely
sufficed to allay the vexation he so keenly felt, owing to this
flagrant riot having been witnessed by all.

" Would I could pitch on the ringleaders," he said, angrily,.
" I'd make an example of them they would not readily forget."

" Well," said St. Prix, always the hounds' friend, " it is rather
late now, after the worry, to chastise them for a fault, thereby
condoned. Punishment, to be effectual, should instantly follow
the riot, flagrante delicto, or the hound will suffer without knowing
why or wherefore."

" By the death of this wolf, M. de Kergoorlas, you have done
a rare good service," interposed M. Richard, the mayor of the
commune ; " and I propose, with the sanction of M. de St. Prix,
to hand over the Government bounty to your piqueurs. We
have yet other days for hunting the boar ; and I trust you will
be able to give a satisfactory account of them ere the week
ends."

"With all my heart," responded St. Prix, gladly helping to
turn the conversation into another channel, and hoping to soften
the irritation M. de Kergoorlas too evidently felt. " They have

I24 WOLF-HUNTING.

done their work admirably; and, so far from begrudging the
tribute to their fellow-piqueurs, my men will only be too happy
if it is given as M. Richard proposes."

It had always been M. de St. Prix's custom to divide the
Government award — thirty or fifty francs, according to the sex
of the wolf slain — among his piqueurs ; just as in former days,
in this country, when a fox was killed, cap-money was levied
from the " field " and usually handed over to the huntsman, in
token of the sport and success achieved by the pack under his
management ; so that to " give Joe his half-crown " was fooked
upon as a happy privilege by those who were fortunate enough
to live with the chase and to see it crowned with a kill. There-
fore M. Richard, being well aware of St. Prix's practice, and
deeming that they, whose hounds had done the work on the
present occasion, were best entitled to the reward, proposed its
distribution accordingly ; and before M. de Kergoorlas could say
aye or nay in the matter he handed over thirty francs to the
chief piqueur, the very man who had been singed, while drunk
and incapable, on the previous night.

The selection on the part of the mayor was not a happy one ;
and for this and other reasons Kergoorlas appeared anything but
gratified by the transaction ; however, he so far mastered his
feelings as to thank that official with the utmost courtesy, and at
the same time, drawing a handful of five-franc pieces from his
pocket, he beckoned to Louis Trefarreg, and at once made ample
amends for the loss of the largesse which he and his followers
were entitled to expect for a wolf slain by hounds in the
Louvetier's country.

But the Breton noblesse are a proud and fiery race : and St.
Prix winced ominously at the unexpected and large compensation
made to his men, in lieu of the paltry sum paid by the mayor to
Kergoorlas's piqueurs ; and Keryfan subsequently told me that,
if such a liberty had been taken by any one less friendly than

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 125

Kergoorlas was with St. Prix, the latter would have chucked the
money at the other's head. Then the inevitable result would
have been a sword duel — not usually a fatal affair, but always a
bloody one. But a Dens ex machind, appeared and averted the
danger at once : a peasant messenger, in wild haste, rushed up to
announce that a single hound had been all along in chase of the
two hunted pigs, and had driven them to bay in a pool of the
river, about half a league from the spot on which we then stood.

In an instant all personal aggravations were cast to the winds ;
Kergoorlas deliberately unwound his horn and commenced playing
" La sortie de 1'eau " with a fervour that, if he had been nearer to
his game, would have been certainly more suitable ; while, the
peasants, impatient of delay, dashed off to the scene of action
with an impetus that knew no control. Nor did the hounds,
which stood round their master, lifting their heads on high and
solemnly joining 'in the wild melody, move a yard from the spot
before he had finished that formal announcement on his horn.
The peasants seemed to be well aware they had no need of their
services, and that the one hound, having brought the pigs to bay
in water, was amply sufficient to keep them there, until they could
come to his aid ; so, without hesitation, away they all scurried,
leaving the hounds and their master to their present enjoyment.

I felt for the moment somewhat embarrassed, longing to scurry
away too and see the finale to this unusual day's sport; but,
observing the studious composure of Keryfan and the fiery St.
Prix, neither of whom stirred a step while Kergoorlas and his
choir were executing this piece of music, I became aware, if I
did so, that I should be guilty of a breach of etiquette which
would degrade me at once in the estimation of these high-class
Breton chasseurs ; so I submitted to my fate and waited a long
three minutes for the conclusion of this strange ceremony. The
horn being re-slung into its usual place, we then followed the
peasants.

126 WOLF-HUNTING.

Before, however, we could overtake them, the reports of several
guns, rapidly succeeding each other, fell on our ears ; and by the
time we reached the pool, where the hound had brought them to
bay, two fine boar were lying stretched out, side by side, on the
river-bank, still quivering in the throes of death. The hound that
had stuck so gallantly to his game was called Troubadour, and a
grander specimen of the veritable griffon no man could wish to
see ; he was rufous-grey in colour, had a long, sensible face, with
a high crown to his head, deep chest, good feet, long powerful
thighs, and legs without lumber ; above all, he carried a bold
stern well-arched over his back, and feathered deeply to its very
tip. I can see the brave beast before my mind's eye at this very
moment : two long gashes furrowing his ribs and streaming with
blood, but apparently skin-deep only, as he seemed to pay little or
no attention to these ugly-looking wounds.

" Oh," I said to myself as I marvelled at his real hound-like
beauty, " would that I had powers of persuasion strong enough to
induce some master of hounds in England to break through that
fashionable routine of breeding, which is fast destroying the
character and scenting qualities of foxhounds, such as they
were in the days of the sixth Duke of Beaufort ; when his
long-headed and long-feathered badger-pies hunted like weasles,
or drove their fox, like a flash of fire, over the cold fallows
of the Gloucestershire wolds ! The blood of Troubadour, judi-
ciously infused, I venture to believe, is all that is wanted to bring
back the modern foxhound to that grand type of former days."

Captain Anstruther Thomson's recent testimony on the value
of Welsh hound-blood, is worthy of the utmost attention on this
point.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 127

CHAPTER XII.

IT has already been mentioned in a former chapter how difficult
it is, in the deep and rocky forests of Lower Brittany, to check
riot and to keep hounds steady and together on the game which
it is the object of the day's chasse to pursue. Hence the
necessity of the piqueur and lime-hound in the first place, and
of the relay system afterwards ; by which, the right game being
harboured and roused, the oldest and staunchest hounds are
laid on ; then, as the chase waxes hotter and hotter, the less
steady are thrown in ; then the rest of the pack, in batches,
according to their degree of steadiness and love of the game
pursued ; and thus the chance of change is greatly diminished,
even in a pack of hounds accustomed to run every beast of
the forest from a roe-deer to a wild boar ; and that, too, in the
trackless depths of a Brittany cover.

The use of the lime or lyme-hound can be traced to a
classic age ; and several authors of antiquity, both Greek and
Latin, have recorded his characteristics so minutely, that his
identity, in point of use, with the Breton limier of the present
day, is beyond all doubt. The lymer, so called from the lyam
or leash in which he was led, was, from the nature of his employ-
ment, necessarily mute \ and, as muteness in a well-bred hound
is rarely met with, this indispensable pioneer was always a

128 WOLF-HUNTING.

hybrid — the result of a cross between a hound and a mastiff, or
pointer; the puppies favouring the hound being rarely kept for
the purpose. Thus, this " canis ductor " is denned by Skinner
as " Canis vilior ex cane sagace venatico cum Molosso copulato
prognatus :" by which the mastiff blood is shown to be the
cross adopted ; but, if I mistake not, in Brittany the preference
is usually given to a Spanish pointer for that purpose; that
race being less addicted to throwing their tongue than even the
mastiff or Molossian breed.

That the practice of commencing the chase by means of
lymers, or, as Seneca calls them, the " canes tacitae," should still
prevail in Brittany and other parts of France, after the lapse of so
many centuries (for the use of these tufters can be traced back to
a boar-hunt in Mount Parnassus, as described by Homer in the
i Qth Book of the Odyssey) would indeed be extraordinary if, in a
country abounding with a vast variety of wild game and endless
forests, the same tactics in sylvan war were not as necessary in the
present day as they were three thousand years ago.

In England, with a single exception, the services of the lymer
have long ceased to be required ; the cultivation going on, and so
many of our wild beasts disappearing before it, the system has
gradually dropped into disuse. The Devon and Somerset stag-
hounds, however, still have their "tufters" and their " harbourers,"
both of which perform duties similar in many respects to those of
the Limiers and Piqueurs of former days, and to those in France
at the present time. But that pack, under the able management
of Mr. Fenwick Bissett, is the only one now left in Great Britain
that hunts the wild red deer in his native haunts. Long may it
continue to flourish and represent the far nobler fashion of our
forefathers in their pursuit of this grand beast than that so widely
practised in the present day; long may those deep covers of
Exmoor, erstwhile the hiding-place of the Doons and the red
deer, continue to produce their warrantable stags ; and long may

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 129

the fastnesses ring with the chirrup of his hounds and the merry
blast of Bissett's horn.

On our return from Koenig that evening an agreeable surprise
awaited M. de St. Prix, and, indeed, several of the Breton
chasseurs, including myself, then gathered at Gourin : an English-
man, called Shaft o, had arrived at the Cheval Blanc, after an
absence of some months passed in Norway, whither he had gone
for the purpose of salmon-fishing during the preceding summer.
I had often heard of this gentleman during my stay in Brittany,
but hitherto had not been lucky enough to meet him, much to my
regret ; as, almost invariably, on being introduced to a strange
chasseur, the first question he asked me was, if I knew my com-
patriot, Mr. Shafto ? And the look of surprise and disappointment
expressed, on hearing I had not that honour, made me quite feel
I was arguing myself unknown, and that the sooner I made his
acquaintance the stronger would be my credentials in that
country.

Well, here he was at last ; and a heartier demonstration of
welcome and kindly feeling than that shown him, from the host
of the Cheval Blanc to M. de St. Prix, was never yet witnessed.
They actually hugged him ; and would, I think, have saluted
his cheek, but for his natural repugnance to that kind of
salutation. They would, however, have found that a difficult
matter, as his face was as hairy as that of a Carlisle otter-
hound, and looked as if it had never been visited by the edge
of a razor.

When St. Prix had formally introduced me to him, he said
pleasantly, " Very glad to meet a fellow-countryman in such good
company ; but how on earth did you find your way here ? I
have lived twenty years in the country, and never met an
Englishman before at Gourin."

I explained that my object in visiting the country was to
get some good wolf-hunting, more antiquo; and that my friend

130 WOLF-HUNTING.

the Baron de Keryfan, having introduced me to M, de St. Prix,
the Louvetier had kindly invited me to join his party on the
present occasion.

" The man and place of all others for the sport," he observed ;
" but, happily,

' Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum :'

and this little town, the centre of the best wolf and boar-hunting,
and, I may add, cock-shooting, in all Brittany, is, and I hope
will long continue to be, a terra incognita to tourists in general,
and gunners in particular. These latter, especially from the
Channel Islands, have so overrun the covers and country
bordering on the sea-coast, that henceforth it is proposed a
permis-de-chasse should be granted to no foreigner who has not
resided at least six months in the country. It is no mere figure
of speech to say that these men have sent cart-loads of game
to the Paris and English markets from this country ; and hence
the need of a more stringent law for the protection of the game,
and the native chasseur."

The very fact that I was a friend of Keryfan's, and in St.
Prix's company, was a sufficient guarantee to him that my sole
object was wild sport; and feeling this, he not only did all
in his power to promote that object, but bid me frequently to
his " Hermitage," and showed me the most cordial hospitality
during my two seasons' residence in Brittany. Of Shafto and
that Hermitage I could fill a volume. However, I will only give
a brief description of each for the present. The dwelling, so
called, consisted simply of four square ground-floor rooms, such
as might be constructed from a parish pin-fold, if roofed over and
divided into compartments. It stood in the centre of a large
yard, surrounded by a high, strong, stone wall, the entrance to
to which was by a porte-cochere, massive as the gates of a Norman
castle. Situated in a wild, solitary ravine of the Black Mountains,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 131

and surrounded on one side by deep woodlands, and on the other
by long ridges of granite rocks, the building had originally been
intended as a place of refuge for cattle during the heavy snow-
storms of winter; when the wolves pack, and are driven by hunger
to attack, even by daylight, the horses and dogs of peasants at
their very doors.

Alexander Selkirk's abode could scarcely have surpassed this
spot in desolation and solitude ; but, while his company consisted
of a cat, dog, goats, and a talking parrot, varied by the occasional
visit of a tribe of savages, bent on a cannibal pic-nic — who, by
the way, left him a valuable legacy, and did him far more service
than harm in the long run — Shafto's court-yard was furnished
around with pipe-casks from Bordeaux, every one of which had
brought its quantum of good wine to the Hermitage, but was
now converted into a comfortable dog-kennel. Setters, Sussex
spaniels, and wire-haired Brittany wolf-hounds, numbering alto-
gether about fifteen couple, had their separate lodgments in these
barriqueS) and formed a useful and appropriate garrison for that
tenement. The wolves, however, in the winter season, notwith-
standing this fomidable force within, were continually reconnoiting
the premises ; and of all serenades ever listened to, the most
dismal is theirs, wailing their hunger in the dead of night. The
cat-tribe are said to make night more hideous by their cries.
They, we know, are mere love-squabbles, and our ears, if doomed
to city life, soon become familiar with, if not reconciled to, the
nuisance ; but there is something so mournful, so expressive of
distress, so appalling in the howl of a wolf under your window,
when all else is silent around, that he who has once heard it will
never forget it while life lasts. The first time St. Prix slept at the
Hermitage, at least half a dozen wolves howled in concert around
its walls the live-long night. Some fresh meat for the hounds had
been hung in the shambles hard by, and with this attraction for

132 WOLf-HUNTING.

their noses their dismal serenade was unceasing, till, like Richard,.
he must have said :

" Meth ought a legion of foul fiends
Environ'd me, and howled in mine ears
Such hideous cries, that with the very noise
I trembling wak'd . "

Saving Shafto himself, and the sturdy Breton peasant, Owen
Mawr — whose domicile was the stable-loft, and who, with his wife,
fulfilled in a wonderful way the various offices of cook, groom,
piqueur, and general purveyor — no other human being lived at,
or within a league of the Hermitage. However, Shafto had
sundry advantages over the hero of Defoe's story, in his four-
roomed house ; two spare beds were always ready for visitors
during the hunting season ; and these were kept tolerably well
aired by kindred spirits, who, having once lodged there, were as
regular in their visits as woodcock in their migration ever afterwards.
When Frederick the Great furnished Voltaire's apartment for him
at Sans Souci, he humorously decorated the walls with pictorial
epigrams on the character and habits of that philosopher • and
among others, the figure of a stork represented the regularity of
his visits to that favoured spot. But here, at the Hermitage, the
sole garniture of the panelled walls consisted of roe-deer and
stags' antlers; on the tines of which were suspended whips,
hunting-horns, spurs, rods, and fishing gear ; while the floors were
covered with skins of the wolf and the fox ; trophies of the chase
serving the purpose of a carpet, but more durable and far softer to
the tread than the finest Axminster ever manufactured. Then
each bed had its otter-skin coverlet, beneath which it was a luxury
to lie on a cold winter's night ; it was so warm, so soft, and withal
light as an eider-down quilt ; the French artists far surpassing ours
in their treatment of fur-skins. The grisly hide of the boar was
also turned to profitable account, and supplied a capital door-mat
to each apartment.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 133

Shafto's sire was yet alive, a large landed-proprietor in the
north of England ; but, having a numerous family by a second
wife, he had given a willing consent to the self-imposed exile of
his son and heir ; with whom, owing to his devotion to the chase,
and refusal to adopt a learned profession, he had held little or no
intercourse for years, beyond paying him his regular allowance in
quarterly instalments. When this was exceeded — a by no means
uncommon event — and a request made for a " farther advance,"
the vials of the old man's wrath, charged with the bitterest
invective, were poured unsparingly on the son's head. An old
college friend once told me that his father had denounced him
as a prodigal anticipating his inheritance, and " eating up the calf
while yet in the cow's belly." To which the son, not without
some reason, thus replied: "Father, I am the oldest heir-apparent
in Great Britain ; and you would have me wait till I've no teeth
left either for cow or calf."

Shafto had naturally given the paternal roof a wide berth; and
for twenty long years, the best years of his life, had adopted the
Hermitage as his home, and the forests of Lower Brittany as his
chief hunting-ground. From his open-handed liberality, giving his
game wherever he killed it, keeping his wine-tap always going,
and his tobacco-pouch well stored and ready for every peasant's
pipe, he was literally adored by that class ; and thereby enabled
to save many and many a wolf's litter from the inevitable fate of
being knocked on the head, instead of getting the chance given
them of showing sport on a future occasion. Consequently,
among the Breton noblesse, not only on this ground was he
popular, but because he was, as they call him, " Un chasseur de
premiere qualite," good company, and a thorough gentleman.

Having introduced my compatriot and his belongings thus
briefly to the reader, let us hark back to the party who were
receiving him with so cordial a welcome at the Cheval Blanc.

"We've expected you daily for the last week," said St. Prix

134 WOLF-HUNTING.

still grasping Shafto's hand ; " and to-day you ought to have been
with us, as we have not only killed the great boar of Laz, but the
old wolf that led you so many dances from Scaer to Dualt, and
kept your hounds without their blood for so many days."

" Bravo ! that is a great triumph ; but Keryfan tells me you
were obliged to borrow a Vendean pack to achieve it."

" Quite true/' shouted Kergoorlas : " though, to speak fairly,,
the old brute had not a tooth left, and might have been galloped
to death by a donkey. However, his skin goes to the Hermitage ;
for all agree he was an old friend of yours,1 Shafto ; and that you
have a prescriptive right to that memento."

" I should have liked to be in at his death, I must confess,"
said Shafto, turning to me, and parrying the taunt pleasantly
levelled at his hounds ; " but I could not control the winds and
the sea. Good sport though I have seen with my old friend
Reginald James in the Norway waters, I would not again undergo-
the misery of that voyage from Christiansand to Bordeaux for
the freehold of Torjedahl. Fancy, one-and-twenty days in a
Norwegian timber-brig, with nothing but a ' hurricane house ?
abaft the mainmast to live in, for captain, crew, and passengers ;.
no 'tween decks, all occupied by timber ; and the wind blowing
as if all the bags of y£olus had been ripped at once. The ship
scudding wildly, with two men at the helm, under close-reefed
topsails and reefed foresail ! It's a lesson, believe me, I shall
never forget. The only moment of merriment I enjoyed through-
out the voyage was to hear a Devonshire man declare solemnly
it was ' They qua'ter-noxes a-blow'ng/ although it was a good
month after the usual period of the equinoctial gales."

That night was one of wassail at the Cheval Blanc ; and the
ceremony of drinking healths and toasts and singing Breton
songs, suggested by the return of Shafto and the unusual success
of the day, was prolonged to an hour better suited to the habits
of confirmed Bacchanals than those of a party met for the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 135

enjoyment of wild sport. Hunting and head-aches don't go well
together j and he who would really enjoy the former must forego
the indulgence of " cakes and ale " for the time ; must imitate,
by his moderation and early habits, the example of that " Prime
Minister " of the North, the Rev. John Russell, who though

" So prone to the chase that he followed each scent,
From the stag in the forest to bubble-a-vent,"

Yet the poet adds —

" Not a lover of wine,
He was sure to be fast on his pillow at nine ; " *

and, like the student who would attain his object, he must be
careful to keep body and mind in healthy condition ; to abstain
from all that tends to enervate either ; or the goal will not be
gained. It is impossible to carouse and at the same time enjoy
the charms of the chase ; nor ever in classic legend do we find
Bacchus and Diana associated together.

Notwithstanding St. Prix's hounds were appointed to meet
some four leagues off at eight in the morning, the wassail was still
going on merrily long after midnight. Prominent among the
nightingales, too, was the chairman, the Louvetier himself. The
popular peasant song of the country he sang with great effect ;
it was called "Ann hini goz," and declared the passion of a young
man for an old woman for the sake of her wealth ; the refrain, in
which every Breton joined heartily, creating roars of merriment.
The chairman's power appeared to be imperative j and, on whom-
soever he called for a song, that person was bound to sing.
Shafto and myself responded to the request as well as we could ;
he, by singing, " 'Twas on a dark day in December ; " and I, the
" Kilruddery Fox-chase." But when Kergoorlas was appealed to,
he proved a recusant ; and no solicitation could induce him to
change his mind : he was willing to make a speech, though ; and
this commutation being accepted by the chairman, he commented

* That poet was his friend, Mr. George Templer, of Stover.

136 WOLF-HUNTING.

in the most humorous style on the Breton song " Ann him goz;"
and ended by especially recommending its burden to St. Prix,
who was then a bachelor.

Apropos to this musical supper-party, still the fashion in Lower
Brittany, and formerly one of the most popular of institutions at
Oxford, not long since a lady, an octogenarian, made her appear-
ance at Torquay ; and, meeting a mutual friend, she expressed
a wish to have an interview with Henry, Bishop of Exeter, the late
Prelate — whose claim by the way, to the title of " Fidd Defensor "
was a strong and a real one compared with that of his Royal
namesake — "For," said the lady, "I should like to ask his
lordship a question, while he yet lives ; and he is the only man
now living who can give an answer to it. I want to know
whether, on the occasion of a supper-party at Magdalen College,
Oxford, he did or did not say, what he is reputed to have said, to
my old friend Dymoke, father to the late king's champion."
It appears that they and a lot of jovial Demies had met together
in the common room ; and under the influence of a mighty bowl
of " Bishop," it was agreed that every man present should either
sing a song, tell a story, or drink a pint of salt and water. The
lot fell on Dymoke to begin ; but he sang so execrably ill, that
every one present was relieved when the song came to an end.
Next, it devolved on Henry Phillpotts to fulfil his part, or suffer
the penalty. " I cannot sing," said he, " and I should be very
loth to drink a pint of salt and water ; but if I must tell a story, I
should like to hear Dymoke sing that song again."

The lady and the prelate met soon afterwards, and the
question being put, his lordship at once owned to the impeach-
ment, and greatly delighted the lady by naming the very song
Dymoke had so maltreated.

The clock at the Cheval Blanc struck three, A.M., as the last
of the revellers quitted the salle-a-manger for their short night's
rest; and the consequent knocking, kicking, and shouting that

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 137

•ensued at the doors of the various tenements to which they sought
admission, must have disturbed every soul in Gourin. On
retiring to my own apartment my misery may be better imagined
than described when I discovered that my bed was already
occupied by a chasseur, fast asleep, and breathing loudly and
heavily under the influence of the wassail, of which he had been

one of the chief promoters. He proved to be a M. de , a

large landed-proprietor from the neighbourhood of St. Brieuc \ a
duellist, too, of no favourable reputation throughout Brittany.
The very first day he joined our party Keryfan called my special
attention to him, and said, " Whatever you do, don't quarrel with
that man : he is as much given to duels as the editor of a Paris
•brochure"

I had taken him twice or three times by the shoulders and en-
deavoured to rouse him by a lusty shout, close to his ear ; when,
the light falling on his face, I discovered who the intruder was ;
and at the same moment, as Keryfan's warning flashed across my
mind, I said to myself almost audibly, "Well! now I am in for a
row ; but it can't be helped ; he has no business here, and out he
shall come, ' coiite qui cofite.'" I was in the act of taking him by
the ancles, for the purpose of ejectment, when, hearing Keryfan's
light step on the staircase, I paused an instant, thinking he would
readily lend me a hand, and that two of us could manage the
matter better than one. But, he knew the man too well for that ;
he knew that bloodshed would be the inevitable result -} and
although he- was bold enough to take a lion by the beard, if
necessary, yet he was sensible enough to hate a brawl and to
advise caution when danger was nigh.

" Don't touch the man," he said, emphatically ; " he is
evidently fast asleep and very drunk ; why not drag the mattress
from under him, and with a blanket around you take your rest on
the floor • you would be just as comfortable as on a wooden
bedstead."

138 WOLF-HUNTING.

So I followed this timely advice ; and putting on a warm pair
of slippers, and rolling myself in a blanket, the mosquito-net being
superadded, I slept soundly and sweetly for four hours, when the
blast of Shafto's horn, ringing out " Le point du Jour," told the
" coming of the morn," and roused me from further slumber.
Let me add, the occupier of my bedstead, instead of provoking
me to a deadly encounter, made an ample apology for the wrong
he had done me ; and many a day afterwards he and I hunted
together on the best of terms.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 139

CHAPTER XIII.

THE meet on the present occasion was nominally at Pencoet, a
desolate farm-house situated on a spur of the Montagnes Noires,
in the direction of Chateaulin, but really was intended for the long
chain of covers lying on the south-western side of that hilly region,
which has been appropriately called the " Backbone of Brittany."
These covers, consisting chiefly of oak, hazel, chestnut, and black
pine trees, occupy for many leagues the hollow valleys of that
district : and the nearest of them being at least a league beyond
the farm-house, the hunting ground was not reached by the hounds
till long after the appointed hour ; while the " field," after the
orgies of the previous night, were yet more unpunctual.

Shafto alone had left Gourin at break of day ; it having been
arranged between him and St. Prix that he should bring six
couple of his hounds to join the Louve tier's pack, the latter
consisting also of a like number : but it was past ten o'clock ere
the allied forces met at Gwernez, the precipitous cover they were
appointed to attack first. The din of war had so disturbed the
wild tenants of Laz and Kcenig, during the past two days, that
it was confidently expected many of the survivors, especially the
oldest and the craftiest, would cross the mountain range during
the night and seek the quiet and secluded haunts of this cover ;
and the report of the piqueurs fully confirmed this expectation.
The heavy showers of the last few days had so moistened the

140 WOLF-HUNTING.

surface of the rugged waste lying between the southern and
northern slopes of the mountain range that, covered as it was
with stones and stunted heather, the occasional track of a boar's
heel, and the long, pointed, claw-scratches of a travelling wolf,
were ever and anon revealed to the eye as we trotted along to
the cover-side. The hounds, too, as they crossed the frequent
line, could with difficulty be restrained from breaking away and
carrying the drag over the barren ridge ; so that it was evident
no time would be wasted in throwing off, either by drawing
unprofitable ground or getting upon game not intended for the
day's chasse.

The peasantry at the meet numbered in all not more than
twenty men ; but every one carried his long fowling-piece openly
and boldly on his shoulder, as if qualified by law to use it, and
dreading neither man nor beast with that weapon in his hands.
Their costume, too, was far more picturesque than that of the
Gourin or Carhaix peasants, who, as a rule, wear tight sackcloth
breeches, buttoning at the ankles, and a goat-skin jacket above •
whereas many of these sported the spacious trunk-hose, as worn
by us in the sixteenth century, with claret-coloured cloth leggings
and jackets of the same hue and texture ; while their waists were
.girthed up with broad leathern belts and mighty buckles. Two
only were mounted on rough Brittany ponies, carrying saddles
very similar in shape to the pack-saddle used by our millers :
neither side of the saddle had stirrup-irons, but a single strap,
running fore and aft on the near side from the pommel to the
cantle, served the purpose efficiently, as the rider only required
support on one side, and rode just as a lady would in this country.
It is a strange contrariety, but, nevertheless, it is a fact that, in the
interior of Finisterre and Morbihan, the women ride astride, while
the men balance themselves on the saddle and carry both legs on
the same side. During the two seasons I was in this part of
Brittany I never saw more than one side-saddle ; nor, in the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 141

region I chiefly frequented, do I ever remember seeing more
than one Breton woman ride after the feminine fashion in other
countries.

The isolation of the land, and the slow growth of civilization
among the people, who have no more affinity in race or habits with
their Gallic neighbours than the Celts of Galway have with the
Anglo-Saxons, will account, perhaps, for the non-introduction of
the side-saddle into the primitive and poverty-stricken district of
Cournouaille. Yet, when it is remembered that this convenient
article of horse-furniture, which Johnson badly defines as "a
woman's seat on horseback," was introduced into England by
Anne of Luxembourg, the wife of our Richard the Second, and
thus, as Stowe in his " Commentaries " tells us, superseded the
use of " whirlicotes, except at coronations and such like
spectacles," it is a marvel the side-saddle should still be unknown
even in that land. Catharine de Medici, too, if not the originator
of the side-saddle, is said to have greatly improved its form,
and, from her devotion to hunting and rare seat on horseback,
it must have been brought into general use throughout France
even in those days. Still it appears not yet to have penetrated
the neighbouring region of Cournouaille, or surely the habit of
riding astride would not still be the common practice of the
women in that country ; and surely, here or there, the wife of
some well-to-do peasant would have adopted its use for comfort's
sake, if not as a " seat " more in accordance with the fashion of
modern civilisation.

On the very edge of the great cover of Gwernez the two lots
of hounds, belonging to M. de St. Prix and Shafto, were now
assembled, awaiting impatiently in their couples the consultation
held by those gentlemen and their friends, the result of which was
to determine the operations of the day. Suddenly, but not unex-
pectedly, the trusty piqueur, Louis Trefarreg, emerged from the
forest, and with his favourite Lymer, a big-headed half-bred hound,

142 WOLF-HUNTING.

attached by a leash to his wrist, was advancing towards his
master, when Shafto, anticipating his report, shouted out, " Bravo,
Louis ; always the first to bring good news : you've tracked them
home, I see, by your face. How many are they, and on which
side of the valley?"

"Pe'var moc'h vras, ha daou vihan" (four big pigs and two
small ones) said the piqueur, in his own vernacular language ; for,
although he understood the import of the questions put to him in
French, he never trusted himself to speak a word in that tongue :
and at the same time pointing with his club-stick, which, like the
Bretons of that district, he perversely carried knob downwards, he
indicated the rocky hollow in which he had harboured the game.
" A couple of hounds," he continued, " will be ample for rousing
them ; and when they divide we can clap on more."

" Quite enough at first," said St. Prix ; " or, with six pigs afoot
at the same time, we should soon be in trouble. Uncouple
Veteran and Harmonic, give them the wind, and, when you hear
my horn, let go three couple more."

" Mine, or your own ? " inquired Shafto, deferring with
scrupulous etiquette to the Louvetier's word of command ; but,
in truth, a little eager to see his own lot uncoupled and busy at
work.

"Yours, by all means," responded St. Prix, divining his
friend's ardour, and willing to indulge it ; " but let them be
your steadiest hounds, Shafto, or, by St. Hubert, you'll never
see some of them again."

While this conversation was going on, Louis Trefarreg had
uncoupled the tufters, and trotting them rapidly across the moor-
land waste, lying to leeward of the gorge into which he had
tracked the boar, the two hounds gave quick notice of hitting
upon the drag, and with sonorous tongue carried it merrily
forward into the very heart of the cover. Exactly in front of
us, on the opposite side of the glen, lay the rocky recess, directly

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 143

for which the hounds were now pointing ; and, as it appeared like
a vast amphitheatre, having its area encompassed with granite
boulders, piled one above another, we were able to command, as
spectators, every yard of the ground from our present position ;
so while Shafto, St. Prix, Kergoorlas, and others moved farther
down the valley, taking the relays nearer to the scene of action,
Keryfan and myself remained stationary on the moor, watching
every stroke of the two hounds with a field-glass, and expecting
every moment to see a grand find.

Hitherto the hounds had carried the drag together into the
very centre of the semicircle ; but suddenly they now divided,
the tan-coloured bitch, Harmonic, holding one line straight up for
the summit of the clitter, while the dark badger-pied Veteran
owned to another equally hot scent round the outside edge of the
rocky ground. " The pigs have divided," whispered Keryfan,
quietly ; " the smaller ones not caring, probably, to occupy the
same quarters with the larger pigs ; or, it may be, the shorter legs
of the former were unable to surmount the massive boulders, and
they've entered the clitter from the upper side."

This was undoubtedly the case j for we could plainly see
Harmonie, though throwing her tongue vigorously, was making
but slow progress in her upward course ; again and again, in
clambering the face of a boulder, over which the pigs had
evidently passed, the brave hound missed her hold and came
toppling backwards to the ground — still, she never flagged a
moment ; still pointing upwards, scrambling, climbing, and
springing over perpendicular rocks and chasms that would have
made an Alpine guide shudder in his shoes. Her perseverance
was marvellous ; but, withal, in ten minutes she had scarcely
advanced twenty yards, and the main stronghold of the clitter
was yet a good hundred yards above her. In the meantime
Veteran was lashing his stern and making his tambourine tongue
ring through the gorge ; and now gaining the head of the clitter,

144 WOLF-HUNTING.

he turned short into it, and swinging straight downwards — a far
easier course than that of the brave Harmonic — he suddenly
doubled his tongue, and with a thundering note proclaimed the
presence of the pigs. The roar seemed to say, " Here you are,
you villains ; turn out, and trust to your legs." In an instant
out bundled a brace of half-grown hog from a dense holly-bush,
and springing, like goats, from rock to rock, made the best of
their way towards the lower ground; and fiercely, in pursuit,
dashed the gallant hound, " swearing hard words " close at their
heels.

A clump of stunted pine for one moment hid them from view :
but, as they emerged from this, out scampered also four huge
grunters, apparently in as wild a fright as their smaller fellows,
and rushing helter-skelter over the boulders straight into the face
of Harmonic. My heart stopped beating as the collision, which
was inevitable, took place between the foremost pigs and the
brave hound ; and I fancied, even at the distance at which I
stood, that I could hear a simultaneous grunt from the herd, as
they swept her headlong from a boulder into a chasm below.
The pigs passed on, Veteran thundering after and driving them
like chaff before the wind : but for some seconds nothing of
Harmonic could be seen, and Kerylan, who had been standing
close to me, watching the scene with intense interest, turned and
said, " Frank : that hound's back is broken ; or, my word for it,
she would be now in front, for a gamer animal never entered a
cover."

Keryfan was wrong though; for the next instant she had
clambered again to the head of the boulders, and, springing
from one to the other, was following the leading hound with fiery
zeal and uninjured vigour — " Bravo, Harmonic," fairly screeched
out Keryfan : " the bitch is all right, I see ; it would have broken
St. Prix's heart to have lost that hound."

A deadly cordon of tirailleurs — the peasants to a man — had

WILD SPOR1 IN BRITTANY. 145

now surrounded the lower portion of the rocky amphitheatre ; and
every open spot, by which the pigs could possibly break, was
guarded by two or three sharp-shooters, whose heavy slugs were
not likely to allow a single pig to escape alive or unscathed into
the cover below. The two smaller boar were toppled over before
they were clear of the rocks • and as the stronger beasts, close
followed by the hounds, gained a patch of open ground and pre-
sented a fair broadside to the peasants guarding that pass, an
involuntary shrug of the shoulders from Keryfan too plainly indi-
cated his thoughts, and seemed to say, " All's up with that lot :
we shall have to draw again, or get no hunting to-day."

But he was wrong again : two only of the bigger boar fell to
the volley, the other two bounded away apparently unhit, and
instantly were lost to sight in the dense and umbrageous cover
into which they at once plunged. Veteran and Harmonic, how-
ever, were after them, singing a lively duet and delighting Ker-
goorlas' ear with the sweet harmony. Then sounded the signal
from St. Prix's horn ; and quick as lightning in uncoupling his
relay, Shafto threw in the eager lot well to the head • and if at
that moment he could have borrowed Mercury's wings and wit-
nessed the flinging, and twisting, and emulation of his hounds, his
happiness would indeed have been complete : but, lacking these,
he trudged manfully after them, and did all a mortal could do to
see the sport and enjoy his life. A rare, enthusiastic, unflagging
lover of hunting, was Shafto, as ever followed a hound : the habits
of the game he pursued, and the power of instinct displayed by
the hound, were his especial study ; and every hit made by the
one or shifts practised by the other, in the longest day, seemed to
be imprinted on his memory, like a picture on a plate of steel.
Over a bottle of Bordeaux wine and among kindred spirits, years
after some memorable run had taken place, how pleasant it was to
hear him reproduce the scene, and record every incident of the
chase as freshly and faithfully as if it had occurred but a week

146 WOLF-HUNTING.

before ! not a hound omitted, nor a friend forgotten throughout
the story.

Again and again rang forth the signal to uncouple more
hounds ; till the Louvetier, determined to give the pigs a
" burster," and, if possible, to run them fairly down, had sum-
moned the twelve couple to his aid, and brought his whole
force to bear on the flying game. His tactics, however, turned
out to be somewhat premature ; the two pigs had separated ;
and while the pack, hard at work with one, had at length brought
it to bay under a rock impending over the river, the other was
viewed leisurely trotting back to the high genet adjoining the moor
where it had first entered the cover. Here, far away from the
roar that accompanied its less fortunate mate, it was doubtless
quietly resting, catching its wind and nursing its strength for
further emergencies.

The notes of the Louvetier's horn now changed j and the wel-
come signal, " La sortie de 1'eau " brought Keryfan and myself
with rapid strides to the river's edge, where a grand picture of
sylvan life was presented to our view. There, in the deep solitude
of that mountain glen, on a bend of the stream, barred in its
course by a rugged, perpendicular rock, thus forming a pond above
and a cataract below, stood St. Prix up to his knees in water, his
horn in one hand and his coutean in the other, not daring to
advance into the gurgling eddies, and yet wild with excitement at
the danger to which his hounds were exposed. And there, too,
confronting him and the hounds, piqueurs and peasants, all of
whom had understood the last signal of the horn, stood the grisly
boar, up to his belly in soil, his eyes glaring with rage, his back
arched, till every bristle stood erect on it like a porcupine's quill,
and his stern bearing firmly against the rock, as if it was his last
stay and refuge.

At sight of the brute in this position, to compare small things

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 147

with great, I could not help thinking of James Fitzjames' gallant
stand, when, beset by Roderick and his clansmen,

" His back against a rock he bore,
And firmly placed his foot before :
' Come one, come all ! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as1 soon as I ' "

The boar had chosen his ground with the utmost strategic skill :
the instinct of a brute is ever sharpened by danger, and self-pre-
servation suggests shifts that often baffle the ingenuity of the
cleverest human reason. Look at the hare, for instance, retreating
at break of day to her form ! what jumps and gyrations does she
practise to elude discovery ; and, when sinking in the chase, how
marvellous are her wiles and doubles, running the hot foil and
squatting suddenly, so as often to puzzle the most observant
huntsman and the keenest-nosed hounds ? Or, look at the shifts
of a deer in his last extremity : he takes soil, and carefully sink-
ing his whole body, even to the tips of his brow-antlers, beneath
the wave, his nostrils alone being exposed above the surface, he
will remain immersed, like a crocodile, for a considerable time ;
nor will he allow a leaf or a twig to touch him, lest it should
convey a taint to the air and reveal the secret of his whereabouts
to the inquisitive foe. A fox, too, has been known to practise
this very artifice, in addition to scores of others improvised in the
moment of distress.

Surely this is a faculty very closely allied to reason ! And
who shall say where one begins and the other ends ; or who shall
divide them? That boar, finding his wind and strength failing
him, must have reflected on his condition, and deduced from it the
necessity of immediately choosing Vantage ground on which to
make his last stand, and await in the most favourable position the
attack of his enemy. Is not this precisely what the ablest general
would have done under like pressure ? But the tactics of the one

148 WOLF-HUNTING.

are attributed to reason ; those of the other to mere brute instinct ;
though what the difference is my philosophy is unable to explain.

Mr. Trelawny has remarked more than once that to record
efficiently the grandeur of the chase, its brilliant passages, and the
wild, romantic scenery to which Diana often leads her votaries,
every pack should have its artist — himself, too, a fellow-worshipper
of the goddess — who, as an eye-witness, should illustrate the vary-
ing and glorious scenes of the hunting-field. Would that Horace
Vernet or Landseer had been among us on this occasion ! that
boar and those hounds, that rock and river, St. Prix and his
peasants, would have been, beyond all doubt, committed to
canvas ; there to delight the world's eye for ages to come.

The Louvetier would not allow a shot to be fired; indeed,
so surrounded was the boar by hounds swimming, scrambling,
and striking at him that, unless the marksman had been a
Kentuckian, he could scarcely have hit the one without en-
dangering the lives of the others. So the boar for some time
had the best of the fight; the ledge of rock giving him firm
standing-ground, and the depth of the pool compelling the
hounds to swim to the attack, and the men to remain helpless
lookers-on from the opposite bank. Ever and anon, as a gallant
hound attempted to land and seize him in the flank, the boar,
with a sudden swirl of the head, but without moving an inch
from his rocky pedestal, struck the intruder a blow and a gash
with his tusk that hurled him at once wounded and bleeding into
the depths of the tide. Six or seven of the hounds were seriously
injured in no time, and St. Prix became well-nigh frantic at the
spectacle.

At length Shafto dashed into the river some twenty yards above
the scene of the fray; and crossing it, waist-deep as it was, he
quickly managed to mount the precipice from the rear, and,
looking down on the boar, he dropped a huge pebble exactly
on the brute's snout. Much to Shafto's surprise, the blow proved

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 149

fatal ; and down went the pig, like a cormorant, head-foremost
into the flood, but never more to rise again alive to the surface,
and down he was carried a lifeless mass over the cataract, the
hounds, many of them, pouring after him, as if still in full chase;
till it was a good hundred yards below ere he was fairly landed
and the mort sounded over his carcase.

Shafto's coup de main, so adroitly directed, elicited, on behalf of
the hounds, the warmest expressions of gratitude from St. Prix,
who, unbuckling the belt that carried his cotiteau-de-ckasse, a well-
proved and priceless weapon, presented it to Shafto, telling him
at the same time he was quite sure its brightness would never be
tarnished in his hands. That couteati, at this moment, hangs in

the old hall at Tower, and is not only valued for its history,

but is the subject of many a stirring after-dinner story in that
festive room.

It was past two o'clock ere the orgies enacted over this last
boar were brought to an end ; and, when the hounds were over-
hauled and counted, it was found that eight couple only were
sound and available for further work. However, this fact had
little weight with the peasants, who, in addition to their genuine
love of the sport, had yet a long score unpaid by the pigs for the
damage done to their crops during the past autumn. So, one and
all, knowing another pig to be within reach, and believing him to
be harboured in the genet, declared for more war : and St. Prix,
nothing loth, at once trotted off the hounds for that cover.

" A fresh hat in the ring" is always looked upon as a formid-
able matter by the already half-beaten wrestler ; and though
he be a champion, doughty as Cann or Polkinghorne of old, the
inferior but fresh athlete will often prove an awkward customer j
and the handicap is thus rendered tolerably fair for both parties,
The boar, refreshed by two hours' rest, never waited a moment
for the hounds to rouse him : but, as the music of their tongues
rang on the stale line, he instantly broke cover for the open moor,

150 WOLF-HUNTING.

and, before the pack were well on him, he was crossing the
mountain ridge and going at a round gallop straight for Kcenig.
Fortunately, our horses were at hand, held by Kergoorlas' drunken
piqueur and Owen Mawr ; but, though we managed to view him
frequently, and the hounds carried a fine head over the heathery
waste, "the fresh hat" proved too strong in the struggle, and
reached the great covers of Kilvern ahead of us all. This was
tantamount to a " fair backfall ;" and as the shades of night were
already taking possession of the woodland glens below, and the
hounds were more than half beaten by their hard day's work,
St. Prix blew his horn and stopped farther pursuit.

On our homeward route to Gourin the hound Veteran fre-
quently ranged alongside my horse, and, observing his high crown
and long face, I remarked to Shafto that I had never seen a more
sensible countenance than his in my life.

"Quite right!" he exclaimed; "that hound reminds me always
of old Eldon ; and, had our late archbishop ever heard him throw
his tongue, he would infallibly have pronounced him to be a
sound, dependable, orthodox hound. By-the-bye," continued
he, " that Devonshire fellow-voyager of mine, on board the
Norwegian • timber-brig, gave me rather a novel definition of
that word ' orthodox/ It appeared that a parish adjoining his
own, in the north of Devon, had for some months lacked the
services of a curate, although the rector,* an energetic parish priest^
had spared no pains to obtain a right man. The rector was also
the master of a rattling pack of hounds ; and his churchwarden,
Tozer, paying the market-town a visit about this time, was thus
accosted by his grocer:

" ' Well, Mr. Tozer, have ye got a coorate, yit, for Bridgwell?'

" ' Not yit ; they don't all suit master : but here's his advertise-
ment, so I reckon he'll soon get one :

* The "Prime Minister" before alluded to.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 151

" ' Wanted, a curate for Bridgwell ; must be a gentleman of

moderate and orthodox views.'

" ' Orthodox, Mr. Tozer. What doth he mean by orthodox?'
" ' Well,' said the churchwarden, thoughtfully, and in deep

perplexity, knowing the double nature of the curate's duties,

secular as well as sacred, 'well, I can't exactly say; but I

reckon 'tis a man as can ride pretty well.'"

152 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE last day at Gwernez had been a hard one for the hounds.
So many had been wounded in the river, and so many lamed by
want of condition, and by the sharp granite roads over which
they had been compelled to travel in their long day's work, that
it had been found necessary to leave two couple of Shafto's lot
at a peasant's hut, some two leagues short of their kennel, which
they reached in sad plight on the following day. The piqueursr
too, were many of them footsore ; and the wonder was how they
had endured the incessant toil and broken night rest to which
they had been subjected for three successive days, shod as they
were with iron-heeled huge sabots, weighing at least four pounds-
a pair, going incredible distances, 'and carousing the livelong
night on their return to Gourin. Nothing but the inborn love of
the chase, and that indomitable spirit, possessed by no nation
stronger than by the Bretons, that carries men on till they drop
rather than give in, could have sustained them under such
circumstances.

Napoleon the First well knew the character of the Breton
peasantry, and had too often tested their courage, hardihood, and
physical endurance under the crudest privation ; hence the con-
scription, in his stormy day, fell with disproportionate weight on
that primitive race, and more than decimated their land. Their
power of bearing fatigue, however, he was wont to attribute as

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 153

much to mechanical reasons, arising from their low stature, as to
the brave spirit by which they were ever inspired ; for the great
General maintained that the heart, in impelling the blood to the
extremities, would have so much less work to do in a small frame
than a large one, in a short than a tall man ; and therefore would
become fatigued, and strike work in one more quickly than in the
other : hence his preference for soldiers of low stature on long
and arduous campaigns. What country could have met his
requirements so fully in this respect as Lower Brittany, or where
could he have found little men with bigger hearts than among
this Celtic population ?

The chasseurs, too, over and above their field-work, had kept
the ball rolling with considerable vivacity during the past three
nights at Gourin. So that when Kergoorlas proposed to give the
piqueurs and hounds a day's rest on Thursday, and hunt at
Kilvern on the following day, there was not found a dissentient
voice among the party to object to the arrangement. As for
St. Prix, he hailed it with delight, wolf-hunting being far more
after his fancy, and also more in accordance with his duty, than
the more dangerous sport of hunting the boar. Not that he
cared for danger ; but it was a real grief and vexation to him to
see his hounds gashed and mutilated, as they so often were, by
the tusks of that fierce animal.

"The peasants of the district have already expressed the
utmost satisfaction and gratitude at the result of our chasse" said
St. Prix j " and if we could not give them another day, not a
man would grumble from Gourin to Concarneau."

" That's just as it should be," said Kergoorlas ; but, at all
events, they shall have the benefit of my hounds on Friday ; and
then, if our sport be as good as it has hitherto been, they will
consider their wrongs amply redressed — at least, for the present
year."

"Aye, but no longer," rejoined St. Prix; "for as sure as

154 WOLF-HUNTING.

autumn comes round with its crops of com, potatoes, and
chestnuts, so sure will the ravagers again appear, and heart-rending
messages will reach us for further help, and —

" More bacon," interposed Shafto ; " and quite right, too, for,
to my certain knowledge, not one man in ten of those Kilvern
peasants gets a mouthful of butcher's meat, saving and excepting
the produce of your ckasse, from one year's end to another."

" And the produce of their own guns and gins," added M. de
Kerjeguz, the chief cover-owner in the Kilvern country. " I had
a fair stock of roe deer, as well as boar, in Laz and Kcenig a few
years ago ; but of late the supply from those covers has been
barely sufficient for my own table. The scarcity is attributed to
the wolves by the tenants of the adjacent farms ; but my garde-
foret tells me the wolves that get the best share are habited in
goat-skin attire. However, so long as the Louvetier can find a
wolf and a boar, when he is good enough to bring his hounds and
his friends into my covers, I care little what becomes of the roe,
which, dress it as you will, is but sorry venison at last."

This imputation on the part of the garde-fortt was no doubt a
just one. The peasants are free-traders in game, and look upon
ihefertz naturce fed upon their farms, for which they pay a rent,
as more their property than the landlord's ; and, although checked
by the necessity of paying for a permis-de-chasse if they openly
carry a gun, their ingenuity in devising snares and gins of count-
less variety for entrapping game, is only equalled by their skill in
setting them. Go where you will through the broomy land, if
you are accompanied by dogs, you may consider yourself fortunate
if, for any length of time, they escape the toils of the peasant
poacher, either in the shape of a wire noose or a rusty spring-gin.
This last, except it is intended for a wolf, is rarely a formidable
engine ; for, although I have had many a dog caught in one, the
entrapment was never followed by worse results than a piteous
cry and a broken skin.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 155

On one occasion a wolf-gin was very nearly the cause of my
getting into a serious scrape with the peasants of Trefranc. I
was out woodcock shooting in that district ; and, being in the act
of jumping from the top of a high bank into a piece of sedgy
ground, my trusty Breton servant, who had mounted the bank at
the same moment, called my instant attention to a huge wolf-gin
which was lying with open jaws very close to the spot on which I
must have alighted, had I made my intended jump.

" That's a dangerous trap for man or dog/' I said to Noel,
with more irritation than gratitude at my narrow escape. " Pull
it up, and cast it into yonder bog."

He immediately proceeded to obey orders ; but, as there was
some difficulty in extracting the iron pegs with which the gin was
moored to the ground, I passed on with the spaniels, and was not
aware that, instead of pitching it into the bog, he had consigned
it to my carnassiere — a circumstance that afterwards saved him
from serious discomfiture.

We had proceeded some half-a-league down the valley ; he on
one side, for the purpose of marking, and I .on the other drawing
a hanging cover, when an uproar in my rear apprised me that at
least half-a-dozen peasants, armed with pitch-forks and clubs, were
coming up in hot haste, and that I was the object of their pursuit.
As they approached within twenty yards of me, I wheeled round
and faced them — a movement that had the immediate effect of
bringing the whole party to a halt ; and before I could inquire
what their business was, a simultaneous and angry shout informed
me I had stolen their wolf-trap, and bid me restore it there and
then. I pointed to Noel, and told them he knew more about the
trap than I did, and would show them what he had done with it if
they inquired of him.

This answer, and probably the half-cocked double gun I held
in my right hand, turned their attention at once upon Noel, who,
by-the-bye, had seen the whole affair, and even heard the conversa-

156 WOLF-HUNTING.

tion that had taken place between us. So when he saw the lot of
angry peasants dashing down-hill directly for the meadow in
which he stood, Noel's courage utterly failed him ; and, dragging
with all haste the wolf-trap from the depths of the carnassiere, he
cast it, in view of them, to the ground, and then, with a yell of
terror, started off at top speed, and disappeared from the
scene.

The abandonment of the spoil appeared to satisfy the
peasants, as they instantly picked up the trap, turned on their
heel, and quietly retraced their steps towards Trefranc. It was a
case of relicta bene on Noel's part, most clearly ; for, had he been
weighted with that incumbrance, he must inevitably have been
overtaken, and would certainly have suffered rough treatment at
his captors' hands.

After this adventure, which occurred soon after I first arrived
at Carhaix, I made a memorandum never again to remove a
peasant's trap. My dogs, of course, I liberated when caught ;
but I always allowed the engines to remain where I found them.
While on the subject, of poaching, let me record an ingenious and,
to me, a novel mode of catching pheasants, which an old soldier
— one who had done good service in India, but received no
pension for it — practised some time since in a western county.
Meeting him one day by the side of a river, with his creel
tolerably well filled with trout, I found his conversation so full of
wild-life anecdote that I gladly shared my sandwiches and sherry-
flask with him, for the sake of his good company. As we
wandered along, chatting, fishing, and sipping sherry, the old
man's heart expanded, and, after deploring the want of a pension,
to which he considered himself fairly entitled, he consoled himself
by assuring me he knew a thing or two more than his neighbours,
and that he could earn many a shilling while they were abed and
asleep. " For," said he, taking me into full confidence, " so long
as my Lady up to Grandton or Sir John up to Brigsham keep a

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 157

swarm of pheasants, I shall never trouble the parish for a loaf of
bread."

I felt somewhat surprised at this announcement, never before
having met with an old soldier turned poacher • but, not to check
the flow of his conversation, he being quite in the humour to
decant his stock of knowledge to the dregs, I said, " So you get
a head or two of them now and then, do you ? How do you
manage it ? Are there no keepers ? "

" Ay, a swarm of them, too ; but they're a sleepy set, and so
long as they don't hear a gun or find a wire they're easy enough,
and don't take alarm."

" Then you match them with brimstone, or noose them with a
pole and wire when at roost ? "

The old soldier shook his head, and bid me guess again.

"Well, then, you take a game-cock with steel spurs on in a
bag, and he pins them for you ? "

" No, I don't : a cock would make too much noise to suit my
book. I feed the ground with a handful or two of peas on the
edge of a cover frequented by the pheasants, and I make half-
a-dozen little holes, about the size of a coffee-cup, in the earth,
dropping a couple of peas into each. When these have been picked
up, I know they'll come again for more next day ; so I twist up
half-a-dozen little brown-paper bags, such as in shops they give
you a pennyworth of comfits in, and, after smearing the inside of
the bags with fresh bird-lime, I sink them in the holes, dropping
lightly a pea Or two into the bottom of each paper. Then, as the
pheasants go picking along the line of peas (for they must be
sown in line, not broadcast), they pop their bills into the bag,
and suddenly find themselves hoodwinked by the paper adhering
to their feathers. Then, being unable to see where to run or
where to fly, they instantly squat like dead things. So that's my
opportunity — I jumps out of the cover, catches them by the
neck, and in they goes into my wallet, without a squeak of noise.

158 WOLF-HUNTING.

Why, 'twas but last Sunday morning," continued he, warming on
the subject, " when other folks were to church, and the keepers
abed — for that's their regular roosting time — that I got six fine
fellows, a bird for each bag ; and I wasn't above an hour or so
about the whole business."

A few days after my interview with the old soldier, I met at a
friend's house a general officer, named Taylor, a Waterloo hero,
who for many years had commanded the loth Hussars in India and
elsewhere, and was himself a wood-craftsman of no ordinary ability.
I described this cornet-de-papier dodge, and, to my surprise, he
was already fully informed on the subject, having practised it ex-
tensively in India, but more especially in catching pigeons than
birds of the game tribe ; and we came to the conclusion that the
old soldier had doubtless gained his experience in the same country.
It having been decided by the chasseurs, in conclave
assembled, that there should be no hunting on the Thursday, a
party was at once organised for paying a visit to the Marine
Observatory, established at Concarneau by the Academy of
Sciences. This institution — one of the first, if not the first of its
kind in Europe, owes its origin and support to the liberality of
the French Government ; and under the able superintendence of
M. Coste, backed by the Minister of Public Works, the habits
and instinct of various sea-fish are here studied, and many secrets
of the deep, hitherto unknown, are now daily being revealed to
the inquiring eye. The attainment of a better knowledge of the
science of Pisciculture is, of course, the ultimate object of this
institution ; but the business of actually breeding the fish is not
practised here as at Arcachon and other localities better adapted
for that purpose. It is strictly an observatory, not a water-farm,
in which stock are bred and cultivated by artificial process ; an
aquarium, not a nursery intended for the development of ova and
the care of young fish in the first stage of their existence.

M. de Kergoorlas having kindly volunteered the use of his

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 159

drag for the occasion, M. de St. Prix, Keryfan, Shafto, and myself
determined to accompany him ; while the rest of the party,
consisting chiefly of the chasseurs from Upper Brittany, preferred
a day at the woodcocks, large flights of which had been driven in to
Conveau and the neighbouring covers by the recent storms. At
daybreak on Thursday, accordingly, as heavy clouds from the
north-west came scudding up over the little town of Gourin,
scavenging the streets ever and anon with a fitful deluge, and
saluting the window-panes with volleys of hail, hard and big as
rifle-bullets, Kergoorlas's drag rattled over the stones, and came
to a standstill at the door of the Cheval Blanc. The team, which
matched neither in colour nor size, nevertheless had the appear-
ance of a rough, useful lot, well suited to the country and work
for which they were required ; but one of the leaders, both being
stallions, had a strong iron muzzle fitted over his nose, and
seemed, from the caution shown in handling him, to be a down-
right vicious brute. Fight, and hold on like a bull-dog, he would,
if man or horse provoked his wrath ; and, although his groom
professed to keep him on half-rations of hay and no corn, the
spirit of this war-horse could not be subdued. He went by the
significant name of " Vampire," having drawn blood so often, and
would have been as fit a subject as " Cruiser" for Airey's taming
power. Notwithstanding his hard treatment in the way of food,
however, he was a rare beast in harness, and, according to
Kergoorlas, could and did do the work of two ordinary horses, or
long since he would have fed the hounds. A set of rope-traces
did not add to the beauty of the team ; but, if not

" Brilliant in Brummagem leather,"

a coil of additional rope tossed into the fore-boot insured a ready
restoration to the gear, in case of disaster on the day's journey
And constant need there appeared to be for this precaution,
inasmuch as the off-side wheeler, now the coach was loaded,
obstinately refused to start and go up to his collar ; and every

160 WOLF-HUNTING.

time the double-thong curled over his ribs the brute plunged
frantically forward, and did more or less damage to the unfor-
tunate harness.

However, rough and hilly as the road was over the Black
Mountains, we reached Scaer soon after ten o'clock, without any
serious mishap ; and here, tarrying a while to bait our horses, and
watch the usual process of frying omelets and broiling cutlets for
our dejeuner, Shafto, Keryfan, and I strolled over the new bridge,
to take a look at the stream that rushes, seething and gurgling,
'neath its pretty arches. To judge from its appearance, now
somewhat turbid from the recent rain, a more favourable river for
salmon and trout could not be seen between Dunkeld and
Inverness. Immediately below Scaer bridge there is a beautiful
run ; and, if the reports of its well-stocked condition be true, an
expert fisherman would be likely to fill his basket here without
much trouble. The river is called the Elle, and falls into the sea
at Quimperle, a pretty little town, containing the grave of St.
Gurlot, to which the Breton peasants resort for the cure of
rheumatism, the arm being thrust into a hole perforated in the
tombstone for that purpose.

The road, via Rosporden to Concarneau, presented no features
'of interest along its wild, sterile tract of moor and heathland,
beyond occasional memorials of the terrible Chouan struggle
which, indicated by wayside crosses, had been carried on so long
and so savagely in this district. Within a short distance of this
road was perpetrated that atrocious massacre of a party of
bishops and priests who, by order of the Revolutionist Govern-
ment, were proceeding to Brest, for the purpose of administering
the rite of confirmation and consecrating a church in that town.
They were dragged from their carriage with a cry resembling the
whoop of an owl (this being the party signal of the Chouans, and
hence their name), and cruelly butchered on the spot. A granite
cross, rudely cut with the words " Siste Viator," arrests the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 161

wayfarer's attention, and is pointed out by a white-haired old
mendicant, said to be the son of one of the actors in the above
tragedy, as the very ground on which the murder was perpetrated.
Not one word of pity or remorse, however, escapes the lips of
this true Breton, who glories in the knowledge that the Chouans
fought for a righteous cause — their legitimate Bourbon king —
rather an old-fashioned virtue in the present day.

On descending the westward slope of this mountain-land a
glorious view to the seaward meets the sight on every side. Below
us, and at no great distance, the broken coast-line, indented with
inlets, bays, and promontories, nigged and jagged by the ever-rest-
less waves, might be seen as far as Pont Aven to the east ; while,
further away westward, Penmarch, Pont 1'Abbe, and even the
storm-beaten headland of Bee du Raz, forming one horn of the
bay of Douarnenez, could be just descried by the naked eye.
Then, further yet, and outward, rolled the great Atlantic, immea-
surably spread beyond all.

" See you yonder little island off Quimper, on the Pont 1'Abbe
side of the bay ? " said St. Prix, pointing to a spot of land looking
not much bigger than a man-of-war moored out at sea.

" Quite distinctly," I replied. " I can even see the white foam
of the waves as they break on its shore."

" Well, a strange adventure occurred during the last Anglo-
Gallic war to the owner of that island, the Baron Daoulaz ; and,
as he told me the tale himself, you shall hear it as it came from
his lips. The Baron, you must know, was a great farmer, and
having cultivated a portion of this isolated land, was in the habit
almost daily of rowing himself over, and paying a short visit of
inspection to a plantation he had recently formed, accompanied
by a black Newfoundland dog, his sole companion. It so hap-
pened at the same time that an English frigate stood off and on
that coast for weeks together watching the French fleet, then lying
securely in Brest Harbour, but preparing for sea under Admiral

z62 WOLF-HUNTING.

Villeneuve, before the great battle of Trafalgar. The Baron's visits
to the little island had not been unobserved from the frigate ;
indeed, they had already been made the subject of comment on
the quarter-deck, and excited some curiosity.

" One day, however, the wind blowing gently off shore, and the
sea being unusually quiescent, the signal-man again reported the
boat afloat, a man and dog on board, and bound for the island.
Instantly the order to ' man the galley ' was given by the captain,
and, by the time the Baron had landed, a crew of six men and a
coxswain were pulling the ship's boat stealthily and speedily over
the smooth water, and were soon in a position to intercept the
Baron on his intended return to the mainland. Finding his retreat
cut off, he very quietly resigned himself to his captors, by whom
he and his dog and boat were forthwith conveyed to the frigate.
But of what use were they, now they were captured, either to his
ship or his country ? — an incumbrance, if detained, and clearly of
no profit to either, thought the captain to himself.

" ' You say you are a farmer, Baron • and if so, you probably
feed some fat stock. Now what have you in that hive ? ' said the
Captain, interrogating him closely.

" ' Sold all my bullocks at Brest last week to the Government
navy purveyor, and I've nothing but a few fat pigs left.'

" Then did visions of pork cutlets, spare-ribs, and fresh sau-
sages, incline the gallant officer's judgment to the side of mercy ;
for salt junk, and nothing but salt junk, had passed the enclosure
of his jaws for many a long week, and his mouth fairly watered at
the prospect of some fresh meat.

" ' Send us,' said the Captain, a bright thought striking him,
1 half-a-dozen of those pigs, the biggest and fattest you have, and
I will at once give you your freedom, Baron.'

" ' I can't send so many — my whole stock consists of four fat
pigs only ; but, if you will accept them as my ransom, they shall
"be sent without delay to your ship.'

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 163

" This offer was at once accepted ; but a difficulty arose as to
liow the negotiation was to be completed, the danger of inter-
course with the shore presenting a serious obstacle against the
fulfilment of the bargain. However, the ready wit of the Breton
nobleman, now sharpened by necessity, quickly suggested a safe
expedient. ' Let the dog be my messenger/ said he. ' If you
put him ashore at Penmarch Point, with a private letter of mine
attached to his collar, he will speedily reach home, and the result,
I feel certain, will be satisfactory/

" Accordingly this was done. The ddg and the letter were
soon conveyed to the said point, when, screeched at by the blue-
jackets, he started homewards at full speed. Nor were they kept
waiting long for the pigs : a couple of wild Breton peasants were
seen from the ship pricking forward the four huge hogs slowly but
steadily towards the shore. They were soon transported to the
frigate ; and, when he was restored to his boat, the Baron's feel-
ings may be better imagined than described as he bid adieu to the
captain and crew, with tears of joy and gratitude in his eyes. For
years afterwards, whenever he met an Englishman, the Baron
never failed to make a joke of this capture, and to boast of the
value at which he had been estimated by a hungry British sailor —
at four pigs only."

By the time St. Prix had finished his story Rosporden had
been passed, and the team was trotting merrily over the stones
into the little seaport of Concarneau, a town that once possessed
fortified walls and a strong castle, built by Anne of Brittany, but
is now famous only for its sardine fishery and marine observatory ;
but of this more anon in the next chapter.

1 64 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER XV.

No matter how wild and attractive the sport of wolf and boar-
hunting may be, followed as it still is in Lower Brittany after the
fashion of a bygone age, with hound and horn of ancient style,
and customs of venery elsewhere unknown, nevertheless the bare
subject, however seasoned with adventure, will at length pall on
the sense, and become intolerable even to the strongest appetite.
The course of nature itself is one of perpetual change and
marvellous variety ; and man, if he has one instinct beyond that
which he exhibits in ten minutes after his birth, namely, searching
for something to sustain life, certainly shows it in his crave for
change. Harping on the same string, even though touched by
the finger of a Paganini, pleases only as a passing charm ; and
he of the Sabine farm warns us that the feast too often repeated
grows bitter* in the end.

Therefore on this ground a digression from the forest to the
sea-shore — from the musical thunder of Kergoorlas' pack to the
loud-sounding roar of the restless Atlantic — will not, probably,
be unacceptable to the general reader. The little seaport of
Concarneau, however, to which he is now introduced, possesses
a Marine Observatory, in the waters of which a great variety of
sea-fish not only seem " to live at home at ease," but to disport

* " Nempe inamarescunt epulce sine fine petitae."

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 165

themselves like creatures unconscious of captivity and in the
enjoyment of perfect health. Whither, then, would he wish to
turn from the rugged tracks of forest life, from the haunts of the
wild boar and the wolf, if not to this attractive spot ? Every
hunter is, or ought to be, something of a naturalist ; and here,
at Concarneau, the faculty of his observation will be directed to
a new study — to the nature and habits of animals, not such,
perhaps, as he has so long loved to pursue, but to denizens of
the deep, the finny tribe, vertebrate and non-vertebrate, whose
ways have hitherto been inscrutable and beyond the power of
man's ken.

Of late years science has been busy in revealing what the
bowels of the earth contain : while its surface has been combed
in all regions to supply the beasts of the field, fowls of the air,
and creeping things of every kind for the use of our zoological
institutions and the cultivation of natural history ; but till
recently, although man was given " dominion over the fish of
the sea," as well as " over all the earth," by the great Creator of
the Universe, the study of life in the waters has received little
or no encouragement from the scientific of this or a former age,
the shroud of the fathomless deep acting as a barrier to all
investigation. Nevertheless, this neglect is somewhat remarkable,
especially if the great value set upon fish in the luxurious days of
old Rome be borne in mind, when seas were ransacked for the
most delicate of their kind, and the poet could tell his friends
what fish were best boiled and what roasted ; that the Peloris of
the Lucrine was a better fish than the Murex of Baise; and that

" Non omne mare est generosae fertile testae."

Again, one might have supposed that the interdiction of flesh-
meat to the whole Roman Catholic world at certain seasons of
the year, when a fish-diet, as tending to the mortification of the
body, was universally allowed, would long since have stimulated

1 66 WOLF-HUNTING.

inquiry and experiments as to the best mode of producing so
useful a food in the greatest quantity. But no, it was reserved
for men of the present day, such as, in our own country, Mr.
Willughby, Colonel Montagu, Couch of Polperro, Pennant,
Yarrell, Sir Humphrey Davy, Dr. Parnell, Sir Wm. Jardine, Dr.
George Johnston of Berwick-on-Tweed, Mr. Donovan, Smith of
Deanston, the sub-soiler and inventor of the artificial salmon-
ladder, Dr. Knox, Mr. T. L. Parker, Sir Francis A. Mackenzie,
Mr. John Shaw, R. Buist of Perth, Ffennell, Lee, Ford, Thomas
Ashworth, the king of cultivators, as he was called in Galway, and
last though not least, Mr. Frank Buckland, to originate the study
of fish-life and fish-culture in river and sea ; and doubtless great
results have already been achieved by those pioneers and by the
united interest of capital and science, now fairly awakened to this
important point.

That it is an important point to the public, especially at the
present period of high-priced provisions, may be gathered from
the Report of the English Sea-Fishery Commissioners (1866),
which informs us that " London alone consumes annually 80,000
tons of sea-fish, not estimating salmon, herrings, sprats, eels,
crabs and lobsters, oysters, mussels, and shrimps ; this in the
aggregate greatly exceeds in weight the consumption of beef in
London. The most frequented fishing-grounds are much more
prolific of food than the same extent of the richest land. Once
in the year, an acre of good land, carefully tilled, produces a ton
of corn, or two or three hundred pounds' weight of meat or
cheese ; the same area at the bottom of the sea, on the best
fishing-grounds, yields a greater weight of food to the persevering
fisherman every week in the year.

"Five vessels, in a single night's fishing, brought in 17 tons
of fish, an amount equal in weight to 50 cattle or 300 sheep.
The ground which these vessels covered, during the night's
fishing, could not have exceeded an area of 50 acres."

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 167

The late Mr. Thomas Ashworth, the most practical, perse-
vering, and successful of pisciculturists, commenting on the above
Report, says — " If we estimate the annual profit of 50 acres of
the best land at £2 an acre, that is^ioo, and compare this with
a single night's fishing of five vessels, producing 17 tons of fish,
at £7 a ton, say ;£ 119, we may form some idea of the wonderful
powers of production of a ' fish-farm ' at the bottom of the sea,
which, without any expensive tillage, produces more food in one
night than a similar area of the best cultivated land in an entire
year /"

That the Marine Observatory at Concarneau was established
by the Academy of Sciences, not for breeding sea-fish artificially,
but for the purpose of studying their habits, with a view to their
better culture and propagation in a state of nature, has been
explained in a previous chapter ; and as the institution from, its
commencement has been entrusted to the management of
M. Coste, a man eminently qualified for the post, great results
have already been achieved, and greater may yet be anticipated.

On our arrival at the little seaport, the news rapidly spread
from the hostelry to the gendarmerie, and thence, with official
weight, to the ears of Mr. Coste, that a party of savants had
arrived at Concarneau for the express purpose of visiting the
Observatory and reporting thereon ; so, while M. de St. Prix was
engaged in writing a note to the Director, soliciting his permission
to view the establishment, that energetic officer had anticipated
the formality and reached the hotel : nor was the warmth and
courtesy of his welcome at all chilled when he discovered — as he
very quickly did — that we were only a party of wolf-hunters, eager
to improve our acquaintance with the living wonders of the deep •
mere amateurs in the science of natural history, and no savants
at all.

"Come along, gentlemen," he said in the heartiest manner,
proposing to lead the way directly towards the Institution ; " and

168 WOLF-HUNTING.

I hope, after you have seen the few novelties we can show you,
that you will give me the pleasure of your company at supper
this evening at seven o'clock ? "

" Thank you a thousand times/' said M. de Kergoorlas. " But
I fear we cannot accept your kind offer of hospitality, as my
hounds are appointed to meet to-morrow morning at Kilvern, for
a day's boar-hunting in that forest."

" Ah ! you hunt the boar as well as the wolf ? Well, that's
a more profitable chasse than the other, for you destroy the
destroyer, and eat him afterwards. But if you can defer your
hunting to Saturday, and will do me the honour I ask, you would
then have ample time to-morrow to see our Druidical monuments,
of which there is a vast assemblage at Carnac and Plouharnel, in
this neighbourhood ; and they are acknowledged to be unequalled
in Europe."

"That would be a great treat," responded Kergoorlas and
myself at the same moment; Keryfan, too, chimed in, and
hoped the change might be made in the hunting-day.

" With all my heart," said St. Prix, always ready to promote
good-fellowship and the wishes of those around him ; " so let us
bow to the majority, Shafto, and accept M. Coste's hospitable
offer and the treat in store for us to-morrow."

Now, so insatiable was Shafto's appetite for sport, that a day
lost to hunting was almost equivalent to a day lost to his
existence : and when thus appealed to by St. Prix, it required no
little effort on his part to conceal his disappointment and assent
to the proposal : but he did so manfully, nevertheless, although
he would far rather have viewed the white tag of a living fox
flashing across a path than have discovered the whitened bones
of an arch-Druid at the base of a tottering cromlech.

" By all means, if you wish it, St. Prix. And " — he added,
gracefully — " as we are so near, I think it is a duty we owe our
forefathers to make a pilgrimage to their tombs."

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 169

" If tombs they be," said M. Coste ; " but that at present is an
unsolved problem."

Arrangements were then made for dispatching a mounted
messenger to Gourin to proclaim aloud in its streets the post-
ponement of the hunting-day ; while Louis Trefarreg was charged,
in a letter from the Louvetier, to inform the peasants of Kilvern
on the same point : the fixture not having been advertised, this
notice was deemed amply sufficient for the chasseurs and peasants
of the surrounding district. Matters having been so far settled, we
ordered beds at the Lion d'Or j and then, under the guidance of
M. Coste, trotted off at once to the Observatory.

The site of this building is admirably adapted to its wants ;
inasmuch as, dependent on a constant supply of fresh sea-water
for the sustenance and well-being of its occupants, it is founded on
a rock literally overhanging the sea ; the water of which, from the
absence of a muddy tidal river and shore, is usually pellucid as
the fountain of Blandusia : then, Concarneau being a fishing town
and possessing a fleet of small craft numbering at least 400,
engaged Lin the capture of sardines and all kinds of fish inci-
dental to that coast, it offers peculiar advantages for the stocking
of the establishment, both as to the variety of the captives and
their quick conveyance from the wide sea to their narrow home.
Nor are the fishermen uninstructed on this point : the moment an
unusual prize is captured, the boat making the capture, if it
possess not a suitable kettle, which some of them carry for the
purpose, hastens back to port and deposits it with all care and
expedition in the tanks of the Aquarium : a service which is
liberally requited by M. Coste on behalf of the French Govern-
ment.

The building itself is a long, rectangular, stone edifice — what
the French call line maisofi carree — bearing a terrace on its flat
roof and a spacious reservoir, into which, being the topmost of
a succession of reservoirs, the water is pumped directly and

1 70 WOLF-H UNTING.

continuously from the sea. As the reservoirs are formed like
a flight of steps, one below the other, a stream flows steadily
through them, and thus, by its motion, the air of the water is
constantly renewed — a process rendered necessary by the respira-
tion of the fish, which would soon exhaust the fresh air of a still
tank and die from the want of it.

An ingenious over-shot wheel had been designed for doing
the laborious work of continuously pumping the water to the
topmost reservoir ; which water, on quitting the lowest reservoir,
was to fall rapidly over a wooden shoot into the boxes of the
wheel and thus give it the needful rotatory power. Allowing for
waste and evaporation, it was expected this wheel would supply
the reservoirs with sufficient water for nine days out of ten, but
that on every tenth day it would be necessary to make up the
deficiency by the usual manual labour. This contrivance, how-
ever, at the time of our visit, was in embryo ; but I doubt not
its proportions have been developed long since, and that it is now
doing its giant work with the utmost effect

A few words more on the construction of the reservoirs.
These, forming a length altogether of about 80 metres, are
divided into at least 100 cells by galvanised wire-net partitions,
which, while they keep the different species of fish separate,
permit a free passage to the running stream ; so, in each com-
partment each kind gets the food peculiar to it, and seems to
enjoy life as though unconscious of captivity. Nor, regulated
by the outlet, can the usually, pellucid water ever become too
deep in the reservoirs ; and thus the habits and instincts of the
fish can at all times be watched by M. Coste and his observant
staff — a point of considerable importance in the interest of
ichthyological science.

So much for the building and its mechanical fittings ; now for
the live stock contained within its walls. On approaching the
first reservoir, and before it was possible for the fish to see us,.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 171

M. Coste called our attention to the popular error with respect to
the sense of hearing, denied, as so many think, to fish. " But,"
said he, " if they have no visible ears, the internal structure of
the head exhibits in most species a thin, yielding cartilage, which
serves the purpose of a tympanum ; and any vibration on the air
affects that membrane sensibly at once." To illustrate this
remark, he struck the edge of the tank sharply with his knuckles ;
and instantly a rush was heard as of many fish bustling towards
the spot. M. Coste then mounting a step higher and calling on
us to do the same, we saw some fine grey mullet with their heads
almost out of water, eagerly expecting the food which usually
followed that summons. It reminded me of the "lake dinner-
bell " at Charlottenburg, near Berlin ; the sound of which brings
a shoal of carp and tench to it on the edge of the water, when-
ever the bell is rung. The Chinese call their fish together, at
feeding time, with a sharp whistle.

So ravenous were the mullet, and so little timid, that, before
M. Coste could convey to them the food prepared for their use,
they were literally jostling each other and endeavouring to snatch
it from his grasp, ere his hand touched the water : moreover, they
permitted him to handle and stroke them, not only without resist-
ance on their part, but apparently with a confidence that his atten-
tions were kindly meant, and therefore most welcome. St. Anthony
himself, the patron saint of fishes, could never have had a tamer
flock than this small shoal of mullet : nor were they the only
subjects exhibiting the results of kind treatment in this establish-
ment. The sticklebacks, a naturally bold, pugnacious class, were
equally civilised ; taking the food from his hand like a pack of pet
spaniels ; a little eager and jealous of one another, perhaps, but
still well-behaved on the whole, and betraying no fear whatever of
the hand that fed them.

On one point only, however, they were not to be trifled with :
each male fish selected a particular corner for his abiding place,.

172 WOLF-HUNTING.

and any invasion of this sanctum was instantly followed by a fierce
encounter, which never ceased till the trespasser was ejected from
the premises ; tooth and spine were freely used on both sides, and
the death of one, pierced by the spines, was the not unfrequent
result of the battle.

It has been observed by M. Coste and other ichthyologists
that the colour of the sticklebacks depends on the colour of the
,ground they occupy ; for instance, one living in an earthenware jar
in the far corner of the reservoir had assumed a dusky, brown hue •
while on the opposite side, another, whose castle was a white
tea-pot, was so light-coloured that, but for" the pink colouring of
his vicious little eye, he could scarcely be distinguished from the
surrounding water. This assimilation in colour to that of their
habitats is, however, not peculiar to this class, and is doubtless a
provision of Nature to secure them and other species from the
attacks of their enemies. The sticklebacks were great pets of
M. Coste's, who told us, with much concern, that when he had
trained them to quiet habits and even good-fellowship, they rarely
lived longer than two years.

The next compartment to which M. Coste directed our
attention was that enclosing the turbot — the most important, so
far as the object of the institution is concerned, of all the fish
contained in the Observatory. One hundred thousand turbot,
more or less, are brought annually to the London market by
Dutch fishermen of Scheveling alone, who are supposed to earn
thereby some ^80,000, a large sum which our own north-country
fishermen might well envy, and a share of which the French are
now making great efforts to obtain.

In captivity — as M. Coste demonstrated — the turbot will take
food from the hand ; and although he looks so unintelligent, he
is not quite so great a fool as he looks. He knows, for instance,
one hand from another ; and the intrusion of a strange one, too
near him, is instantly resented by an indignant attitude and

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 173.

unmistakable irritability, his fans expanding and the spots on his
body changing from a light to a dark colour, as much as to say,
" Keep your hand off my person, sir ; that's a liberty I don't
allow to a stranger." The rapidity with which he catches and
devours a mullet of five or six ounces in weight is quite mar-
vellous, considering his apparently unsuitable shape for rapid
motion through the water, and the small mouth he possesses for
taking a fish of that size. However, one, two, and three mullet,
taken from a bait-tank, kept for the purpose, were quickly
disposed of by a turbot not weighing eight pounds — his jaws
expanding like those of a snake.

Other flat-fish there were in various compartments, such as
skate, ray, brill, topknot, plaice, and sole ; the first two, however,
claiming more attention than the rest, probably because they were
of larger size and not so well known by our party of landsmen
as their smaller and more common congeners. Of the eleven
species of true rays found in the adjoining seas, no less than five
specimens, one consisting of the sting ray, had been captured for
the institution. This fish is furnished with a serrated spine about
four or five inches long, placed midway on the tail, and giving it
the appearance of being double-tailed. With this weapon, when
attacked, it has the power, by twisting about its long tail, of
inflicting wounds that are rarely healed without much trouble,
for, although it has been ascertained that the spine carries no
poison, the laceration it effects is usually followed by severe
inflammation. So the first thing a fisherman does on landing a
sting ray is to chop off the dangerous tail.

Then came the tank appropriated to several species of the-
ugly and ever-hungry dog-fish, own kinsman to the shark, the
"hyaena of ocean," and only less formidable because less powerful
than that terrible fish. But of all the piscine tribe the most
attractive and interesting to a naturalist were unquestionably the
pipe-fish, a number of which, varying from eight to eighteen.

i74 WOLF-HUNTING.

inches in length, moved in strange and graceful fashion, apparently
hunting for water insects, invisible to the naked eye, in their
narrow pellucid home. Sometimes they seemed to stand literally
on their heads, the dorsal fin moving with singular rapidity ; then,
reversing that position, to balance themselves on their tails per-
pendicularly, with " heads up and sterns down," but, unlike the
beauties described by my quotation, at such time the pace was
nil, and, barring the dorsal fin, they were all but motionless.

But the most extraordinary feature distinguishing these Syng-
nathi consists in their being didelphyc or marsupial ; the male
fish being furnished with a false belly or elongated pouch between
the stomach and the tail, into which the female casts her roe.
In this receptacle the young are fecundated ; and to it they
retreat when threatened by danger, just as the young of the
opossum and kangaroo do under like circumstances. There is
a plate in the work of the old French naturalist Rondelet,
entitled " De Piscibus Marinis" in which the young of the
pipe-fish are represented as swimming in and out of the male
parent's pouch (the female not being so provided), and playing
around it, as a litter of puppies do around their dam.

The evolutions performed by these fish, on receiving their
food, resembled those of a tumbler exhibiting some wondrous
feat of gyration. They twisted round on their backs, and then
through their curiously-formed syringe-like beak they sucked in
the food — an evolution rendered necessary by the mouth being
under the beak and perpendicular to its axis. M. Coste's interest
in the peculiarities of these fish never seemed to grow weary.
He had watched them, he told us, for hours together, and scarcely
a day passed without his noticing some new trait in their habits
worthy of record.

It would be far beyond the scope of this paper to relate a tithe
of M. Coste's pleasant remarks on his finny flock ; but I must not
omit a few words on the crustaceous tribe, some of which, for

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 175

various reasons, occupy an important office in this Marine Obser-
vatory. In the first place, the hermit crabs not only clear away
the uneaten food of other fish, but, when death visits the tanks,
the bodies of the defunct, no matter of what genus or size, are
reduced in an incredibly short time to perfect skeletons : a nest of
ants never did the polishing work more effectually. M. Coste, in
pointing out this valuable service, by which all taint is removed
from the water, brought to my recollection the quaint language of
my old henchman and friend, Will Patey, who, whenever a hound
proved utterly useless for work, invariably thus suggested his
doom : " He must go a-crabbing, sir, he must ! " If sentence of
death followed, in a tide or two the animal was reduced by a
swarm of small crabs to so clean a skeleton that it might have
been sent forthwith to the Hunterian Museum.

Between the common crab and the lobster M. Coste described
a singular difference in the habits of the male fish ; the lobster is
a grand Turk in his way ; roving, like a Lothario, from one attrac-
tion to another, and rebounding, tail forwards, five or six feet at a
time, when meeting a rebuff from a coy mistress ; then gradually
sidling up to her again with the hope of winning his fair prize.
The crab, on the other hand, exhibits the virtue of conjugal fidelity
to the highest degree, and is true as a dove to the single object of
his affection ; clinging round her with all his arms, swimming
about with her, and, if severed by force, seizing her again with
the most devoted attachment ; — a pattern husband beyond all
suspicion.

The metamorphosis, never dreamt of by Ovid, which these
crustaceans undergo, have furnished most interesting matter for
observation ; and beautiful indeed is the appearance of the lobster
on first escaping from his crusty prison ; he is then dressed like a
court beau, and seems quite conscious of the striking effect of his
" purple and golden suit." The power of reproducing a limb in
case of injury is common to all the tribe ; and as casualties, of

176 WOLF-HUNTING.

course, are constantly occurring to them in their present narrow-
seas, the opportunity of observing the gradual but very slow growth
of a new claw is but too frequently given to M. Coste and his
watchful attendants.

The shades of night, now fast deepening over this interesting
exhibition, soon brought our visit of inspection to a close, much
to the regret of all ; but, as M. de la Villemarque, the eminent
Celtic scholar and archaeologist, was invited to meet us at dinner,
his own chateau being at no great distance from Concarneau and
very near Quimperle, a great treat was yet in store for us from the
company of two such men as M. Coste and that savant.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 177

CHAPTER XVI.

A FEW minutes before the clock struck seven, M. de la Villemarque,
arriving from his chateau near Quimperle, reached the private
residence of M. Coste ; and the party being augmented by the
Colonel-Commandant of the district, we sat down, eight in
number, to a bountiful and most appropriate supper. Never shall
I forget the astonishment of Shafto at the variety of form and
sauce in which so many different kinds of choice sea-fish were
served ; nor was the occasional groan that escaped from his
brawny chest at the prospect of losing a day's hunting, " for the
sake of those pagan monuments," any longer heard, so engrossed
was he with the interesting conversation of M. de la Villemarque
and our host on the quality and utility of the various fish set
before us.

To describe all the dishes would, as old Homer says, require
a hundred tongues, and then the science of a Francatelli would
be needed to enter analytically into the subject. I will, however,
venture to touch upon two — the oyster soup and the bouillabaisse.
This latter was pronounced by all a triumph of art ; the fish,
saffron, sweet red pepper, and other condiments being so in-
sidiously meleed together, that the most sensitive palate would
have failed to distinguish a predominance over the rest in any
one of its many ingredients. Greenwich s not more celebrated
for its whitebait than Marseilles for its bouillabaisse, at the hotels

178 WOLF-HUNTING.

of which city it is, at all seasons, a popular dish. The fish
chiefly preferred for it is the dab, but in Paris all kinds of
pond-fish are pressed into the service ; and so good was it held
to be by Thackeray, who was in the habit of feasting on
bouillabaisse at Terre's Tavern, Rue Neuve des Petits Champs,
that his muse absolutely cantered into rhyme on the merits of
" the rich and savoury stew," for which, he says,

" A Cordelier or Benedictine

Might gladly, sure, his lot embrace,
Nor find a fast-day too afflicting,

Which served him up a bouillabaisse."

" When Louis XIV. dined with his cousin the Prince de Conde
at Chantilly," observed M. Villemarque, " Vatel, the chef -de-cuisine,
failing to obtain suitable fish for the banquet, in a fit of despera-
tion fell, like Cato, on his own sword ; but, surely, had the artist
served up a dish of bouillabaisse, the fish for which might have
been caught at any moment in the reservoir hard by, he might
have acquired additional fame, instead of committing self-murder."

" True," replied M. Coste ; "but, unfortunately, the dish is of
modern invention, and was not known in the days of the Grand
Monarque."

" Then a man of such genius as Vatel should have improvised
it in the emergency," said Villemarque, whose acquaintance with
the history of French dishes was evidently not on a par with his
knowledge of dry bones or a Celtic ballad, the data of which he
could fix with rare accuracy.

When the present Lord Chief Justice of England was engaged
as counsel on a great mining case in South Wales, in addressing
the jury it devolved on him to comment on the evidence given
by Dr. Buckland, the eminent geologist, and, if possible, to
weaken it by ridicule. So, assuming an air of gravity and doubt
in his countenance, he said : " You have heard, gentlemen, the
evidence of the learned professor, who has told you far more

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 179 '

about the bowels of the earth than he knows or cares about his
own." This was quite enough for the Welsh jury, whose faith in
Buckland was shaken from that moment, though subsequent
events have proved his geological foresight was quite correct in
this matter. The parallel between that fine old Oxford pro-
fessor and M. de la Villemarque struck me forcibly at this
moment, both being devoted to science, but giving no thought
to the body beyond its needful claim.

So much for the bouillabaisse ; and now for a few words on
the oyster-soup. Had Horace been present he would have made
Catius describe its composition to the last pinch of salt required
for its flavour ; another Satire would have been the happy result,
and we should have known the bay — aye, the very bed — that
furnished the delicious bivalve. But, lacking his good company,
the reader must e'en be satisfied with M. Coste's history of his
oyster-soup, in answer, as it were, to the unqualified praise
bestowed on it by all present.

" I never knew what oyster-soup was," said he, " till I tasted
it in Jersey. My ichthyological duties led me, some time since,
to visit that island, seeking information respecting a shell-fish
called the ormer, said to be peculiar to those coasts. My
quarters were at Jeune's Union Hotel, in the Place Royale,
which, for comfort and good fare, justly bore at that time the
highest character in the island. With a rare stock of old Bur-
gundy in the cellar— so old that no hand but that of the
experienced host could decant it without breaking the crust —
and an accomplished artist in the kitchen, who understood
English and French cookery equally well, no wonder M. Jeune's
hotel was the most popular in Jersey. But the dish of all others,
which attracted most attention, was the oyster-soup, the receipt
for which was a dead secret, nor would money tempt the chef to
reveal it. However, what the dollar could not do, the Burgundy
did. Pierre loved a bottle of it as much as his master; and

i8o WOLF-HUNTING.

catching him one day in a fever heat, after a grand banquet
served up for the baillie and judges of the Royal Court, I
proposed treating him to a bottle of this choice wine. His
delicate palate (it is not every cook that has a palate) watered
at the prospect, and before he had finished three parts of the
bottle his heart was fairly uncorked, and he would have decanted
the innermost secrets of his soul had I cared to know them.
'Now, Pierre/ said I, 'what is it that makes your oyster-soup
the delight of the epicure and the envy of all cooks ? '

" ' Nothing more nor less than conger-eel/ he replied, ' from
which the stock is always made, and which gives it the rich,
delicate flavour so highly esteemed by all good judges.'

" ' Conger delicate ! ' I exclaimed, with amazement ; ' why,
we bait our crab-pots with that fish, and only cook it when we
can get no other fish.'

" ' That may be,' he replied. ' Nevertheless, the fine flavour
of a Jersey conger, when used for stock in oyster-soup, is unques-
tionable, and I strongly commend it to your future notice.'

M. Coste having told us this secret, Keryfan remarked that,
while on a visit to me in South Devon, he had often eaten excel-
lent conger-cutlets, which the farmers on the wild coast of the
Start Point and Prawle Head kept salted, in lieu of bacon, for
winter food. " And, Frank," said he, " you will bear me witness
that, after a hard day's shooting with our dear old friend, ' Dick
Randall,' over that rugged land, a conger-cutlet, fried in fresh
butter, was no mean dish after all."

With the nuts and dessert after supper, the song went merrily
round, after the usual Breton fashion ; but M. de la Villemarque,
the man of all others who was brimful of the old ballads of the
country, could not be prevailed on to sing one of them. Either
he had no voice, or he considered it undignified to sing the songs
which he, with infinite pains, has collected together and published
with so much success. However, his recitation of " Kan Maen-

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 181

wynn," a ballad of the sixth century, which he immediately trans-
lated into French, indulging freely in the liberties of the para-
phrase, was a treat never to be forgotten.

The next morning, at break of day, M. de Kergoorlas's drag
appeared at the appointed hour (seven o'clock) at the door of the
Lion d'Or ; and, although a groom with firm hand stood at the
head of each horse, neither the Vampire in front, though still
iron-muzzled, nor the off-side wheeler, hampered as he was with a
double trace-rope, showed as yet any symptoms of the vice for
which they had acquired so bad a character. After picking up
M. de la Villemarque and M. Coste at the residence of the latter,
we trotted along at a brisk rate through Pontaven and Quimperle
on to Henn-bont — that being the Celtic word for old bridge —
the granite-laid roads throughout the distance being in tip-top
order, and such as Macadam himself would have been delighted
to see. Verily, the government roads throughout France, super-
intended by officers, curtly called, from their office, " ponts et
chaussees," and attended to by a staff of cantonniers, each one
of whom is responsible for the good condition of so many kilo-
metres, are admirably managed even in the remotest departments
of that country. At Henn-bont the team was taken out and
stabled for the rest of the day ; the return journey to Gourin, via
Plouay and Le Faouet (the last word meaning, in the Celtic lan-
guage, " the land of beeches "), being a long and heavy tug for
the poor beasts, and against the collar nearly the whole way.

We had just settled into our voitures provided by the Hotel du
Commerce for the purpose of reaching Auray without loss of time,
when M. de la Villemarque, by whose side I sat, pointed to a
creek at the mouth of the river Blavet. "There," said he,
" landed that gallant knight, Sir Walter de Manny, in the reign of
Edward III., when he relieved Jeanne, the heroic Countess de
Montfort, shut up in Henn-bont by the armies of Philippe de
Valois and Charles de Blois. The countess, who, in the form of

1 82 WOLF-HUNTING.

a delicate woman, possessed the heart of a lion, had animated the
garrison to resist to the last man, fighting herself hand to hand,
and assailing the enemy in several desperate sallies, till at length,
when eating her last loaf, and preparing for capitulation, the
English fleet hove in sight ; and Sir Walter de Manny, with a
host of knights and archers, hastened to the rescue. Two or
three fierce sorties, headed by the countess mounted on a war
horse, compelled the besiegers to withdraw, when the English
troops, bringing an ample stock of provisions with them from
the ships, were received into the town with the utmost joy and
gratitude. But you should read f Froisart/ " added Villemarque,
" to enjoy the history of Henn-bont and the achievements of this
noble dame, the wife of Jean de Montfort."

With many such tales as this, having reference to the surround-
ing locality, did our savants beguile the time between Henn-bont
and Auray. At this latter place, a boat is waiting to convey us
down the little estuary to Locmariaker ; and, as the wind and tide
favour us, we soon arrive at Hellu, a cairn of stones not far from
that desolate village. The menhir and dolmen that now meet our
eye on every side, some tolerably whole, but most lying in frag-
ments around, the grim and silent witnesses of unknown rites and
of a by-gone people, are of such a magnitude, that every one con-
templating the scene must wonder that not a scrap of history
remains to inform us who were the authors, what was the date, or
what the object of such vast and remarkable constructions. But
so it is ; time has obliterated every trace of their origin ; and, if
they be graves of the dead, as many conjecture, not a single
epitaph remains to tell who or what they were who lie buried
here. What a moral on the perpetuity of man's monu-
ments !

Some strange figures, it is true, may be seen on the under side
of the vast slabs of the Dolmen, called dol-yr-Marchant ; but
they are not believed to be coeval with the construction of the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 183

dolmen ; and, if they have a meaning, hitherto all experts have
been puzzled to decipher it.

Time would not permit us to visit Gavr Innis, or Goat Island,
a granite rock off Locmariaker, although M. Villemarque's descrip-
tion of its tumulus and mighty cromlech — the latter having no
less than ten cover-stones and fourteen upright props — made us
loth to leave so interesting an object unvisited. The great
cromlech at Duffryn, near Cardiff — the upper slab being a
monolith, which the late Mr. Bruce Pryce was so delighted to
show the many savants who came to see it — although the largest
cromlech in Great Britain, is a child's table compared with this
giant's work.

" Carnac is a good two leagues off," said M. Villemarque ;
"and although our voitures meet us there, we shall have to
walk briskly to that point, or night will be on us ere we reach
Auray again."

So away we went, stepping along at four miles an hour,
crossing the ferry of Kerysfeer, and then over the most desolate
and rugged - road it was ever man's lot to travel, till we at length
sighted Carnac. And what a sight was it — that army, as it has
been called, of petrified soldiers all once marshalled in regular
array ! Imagine twelve thousand blocks of granite, originally
standing at equal distances from each other, averaging from five
to ten feet high apiece, and planted upright in the soil over
many a rood of land ! But no description of pen or pencil can
convey an adequate picture of the grim scene to the most
imaginative reader's eye. He must see it himself to understand
the place aright. It is greatly to be regretted that no measures
have been taken either by the Government or owners of the soil
to prevent the depredations committed on this mysterious as-
semblage of granite monuments by the peasantry of the district ;
for to houses, windmills, and walls in every direction have these
stones been appropriated ; and it is now no easy matter to

1 84 WOLF-HUNTING.

distinguish the ten once regular avenues, with the crescent-
shaped row at their head, owing to such spoliation. Verily, if
time has wiped out the history of these monuments, man is
guilty of a worse desecration by carting away the very monuments
themselves.

In the act of closely inspecting a menhir on the outskirts of
this ground, our ichthyological savant, M. Coste, very nearly met
with an awkward accident. He had scrambled up to it, and was
standing some three feet above the level ground on a point of the
projecting rock, when a covey of red-legs sprung up close to him -y
and so startled was he by the sudden whirr that he lost his footing,
and fell heavily down. But, fortunately, though much shaken, no
bones were broken ; and he continued his investigations appa-
rently without further inconvenience. The appearance of the
birds, however, seemed to act like magic on the drooping spirits
of Shafto, who, having sacrificed a long day in making this pilgrim-
age to what he persisted in calling the burying-ground of his Celtic
ancestors, was getting thoroughly tired with the monotony of the
dreary scene • but so roused was he by the sight of the. covey, and
by marking them down in a piece of genet hard by, that, if he
could have procured a gun there and then, we should certainly
have seen no more of him for the rest of the day. Indeed, with-
out the interesting comments of M. de la Villemarque, and
the perpetual discussion carried on between him and M. Coste
respecting the extent of area occupied by the Carnac monuments,
and details connected therewith, the dismal spectacle was quite
sufficient to damp the ardour of our Gourin party, to all of whom,
as we quitted the ground, the sight of a couple of charettes waiting
for us at the village hostelry brought unquestionable relief. The
picture gallery was too sombre, too monotonous, and too long for
any man who was neither a philosopher nor an enthusiast in such
matters.

In concluding this subject, it may be as well to add that

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 185

between Carnac and Stonehenge no similarity exists in the general
aspect of the two places. In the first place, the form of the
stone assemblage at Stonehenge is circular, having a flat slab,
called the altar stone, in the centre • whereas that of Carnac is a
parallelogram formed by eleven ranks, and headed by a single row
of rude, upright blocks in the shape of a crescent. These are all
of rough granite obtained in the neighbourhood ; whilst those of
Stonehenge are a kind of hard sandstone brought, as demonstrated
by Mr. Tom Smith, on rollers from the Gray Wethers, about ten
miles off; just as the largest pedestal in the world — that which
carries the equestrian statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg
—a granite block, weighing 1,217 tons> was brought from a vast
bog to that city. " Trunks of oak bound with iron, and pierced
with holes for levers," furnished, as Mr. Smith suggests, the rollers
on which the stones were conveyed to their destination. At
Stonehenge far greater care appears to have been taken in the
construction of its monuments than in those of Carnac, the latter
being unhewn and single blocks only, whereas the horizontal slabs
of the outer circle at Stonehenge are artistically tied by mortices
to the upright props, each of which has two tenons that fit into
the imposts. This is supposed to have been used as a Druidical
temple or Pantheon ; the other at Carna.c as a bury ing-ground
alone. Both, however, being " anterior to all written evidence,"
and therefore without history, nothing certain is known about
either, except, indeed, that they must be considered as among the
most ancient monuments of man's labour.

We did not reach Henn-bont that evening before seven
o'clock, the last hour from Auray being passed in a Stygian
darkness, illumined only by two wretched dip-candles, borne in
a couple of horn lanterns on either side of the voiturier. Without
some such contrivance the man would have been liable to a fine
by the authorities ; but the light, if intended for our safety, could
only have contributed to it by preventing other voitures from

1 86 WOLF-HUNTING.

running into us, for it gave no sign whatever of the approximate
fences on either side of the road. Luckily, the horses knew it,
and so we arrived at Henn-bont without accident.

Here, after some hasty refreshment, we bid adieu to our kind
and agreeable companions, M. Coste and M. de la Villemarque ;
and the road being a broad and a good one between this and
Gourin, via Plouay and Le Faouet, we travelled over it at a merry
pace with our light load and spanking team, and arrived at the
Cheval Blanc soon after midnight.

" Hollo ! " cried Shafto, as we entered the place of the old
town (his mercury had been rising rapidly after quitting Carnac
with the prospect of grand sport at Kilvern on the following
day) ; " hollo ! what on earth mean all these gendarmes in the
street, and so many houses alight at this hour, St. Prix ? "

" There has been a row, doubtless, of some sort," responded
the latter ; " but I devoutly hope none of our men are implicated
in it."

" So do I," said Kergoorlas j " though that drunken piqueur
of mine is always getting into scrapes j and it will be a marvel if
he has managed, during my absence, to keep clear of one for two
days."

This was precisely the case, as Kergoorlas soon discovered
on alighting from the drag, three or four gendarmes and a crowd
of peasants, the latter all more or less in a state of intoxication,
having surrounded it the moment it came to a standstill.

" Your piqueur, Bertrand Gastel," said the chief officer, " has,
we fear, murdered a man, the braconnier Pierre Cantref. He lies
insensible at the Gendarmerie, and Gastel is shut up in the prison
ward at the same place. He is still very drunk, and more like a
raving bull than a human being."

" Then I hope you'll keep him there till he recovers his
reason," said Kergoorlas, with great excitement.

" That you may be sure we shall do," replied the gendarme ;

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 187

" and probably the law may require his detention for a yet longer
period."

A murmur of applause burst from the crowd on hearing these
words.

" Pleasant prospect for the hunting to-morrow," groaned out
Shafto aloud.

" Ah, Monsieur," said the gendarme, " if you depend on M.
Kergoorlas's hounds for your sport, I fear me you'll be greatly
disappointed."

Then came out the whole history of the affair from beginning
to end. It appeared that no sooner had Kergoorlas and St. Prix
departed on the excursion to Concarneau than Gastel and two or
three other piqueurs, birds of a feather, had assembled together
in a small auberge on the outskirts of the town ; and then, not
satisfied with the day's debauch, had prolonged it through the
night, finally falling asleep in the chimney-corner of this miserable
den. The next day (Friday) had originally been the one fixed
for the hunting at Kilvern • but, in consequence of the visit to
Carnac, it was postponed to the following day, and due notice
thereof proclaimed aloud in the streets of Gourin.

However, some half-a-dozen sabottiers, who had not heard of
the change, calling early in the morning at the auberge, and find-
ing the piqueurs fast asleep, and, at the same time, being informed
by the aubergiste that the hunting at Kilvern had been deferred
to the next day, exhibited the utmost vexation • and vowed they
would have their day's sport in the neighbouring covers, come
what would of it. But, although bearing a musket or two, not
a dog of any kind had accompanied them ; and, while perplexed
on this point, the braconnier Cantref, at whose cottage the piqueur
Gastel and several couple of hounds were billeted, entered the
auberge, seeking that individual.

" The very man to your hand," suggested the aubergiste, in a
subdued tone, lest he should disturb the sleeping piqueurs ; " the

1 88 WOLF-HUNTING.

hounds would follow him to the chase, and there is a herd of fine,
fat chevreuil now lying in the forest of Conveau. Why not up and
at them ? "

The suggestion was a tempting one ; and, followed as it was
by a goutte or two of brandy, timely administered to the bracon-
nier, he expressed himself quite ready to join the sabottiers in this
daring adventure. In two minutes from that time the whole party,
leaving the piqueurs still snoring on the ground like a lot of swine,
were off to Conveau with no less than eight couple of Kergoorlas's
hounds ; and, as that cover lies within a league of Gourin, they
were soon in hot pursuit of the chevreuil roused in its mazes.

Louis Trefarreg, however, St. Prix's ever-steady and expe-
rienced piqueur, was speedily informed of the circumstance ; and,
rushing to the auberge, managed to stir Gastel to his legs, and to
make him understand the magnitude of the mischief occasioned
by his absence and inebriety. " Death and hell follow the
villain/' said the still half-drunken piqueur. " If I can only
overtake him, he'll never steal hound of mine more. So say-
ing, he and the rest of the piqueurs staggered off in pursuit.
The hounds' tongues and a few random shots soon brought the
two parties together; and before the braconnier could defend
himself, Gastel, with his iron-shod hunting-pole, felled him sense-
less to the ground. Then were the gendarmes summoned; and
all on whom they could lay hands, save Louis Trefarreg, were
at once secured, and brought to the gendarmerie.

The assault had occurred some sixteen hours before our arrival
at Gourin, but the poor braconnier was still insensible ; and the
hounds, which Louis Trefarreg had in vain attempted to call off,
were supposed to be still running in the forest of Conveau.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 189

CHAPTER XVII.

THE murderous assault committed on the poor braconnier, Cantref,
so well known for many a league round Gourin, created intense ex-
citement among the peasantry, who, notwithstanding the protection
of the gendarmes and police, could with difficulty be restrained
from seizing Gastel and wreaking instant vengeance on him for
the foul deed. In the very nick of time, therefore, did the drag
containing Kergoorlas and St. Prix — the latter respected and
beloved beyond any man in Brittany — rattle over the rude stone-
way of the town up to the doors of the Cheval Blanc. A plot,
the object of which was to force the gendarmerie during the
darkness of night, was gaining strength in all quarters ; and, but
for the timely arrival of the Louvetier, another hour would
probably have matured it, and seen a desperate affray, if not
murder, in the streets of Gourin. The Breton peasantry are a
good-natured but fiery race ; and their ire, once aroused, is not
easily appeased. This, too, was an act of such savage violence
perpetrated on a neighbour by the piqueur Gastel, whom they all
regarded as a foreigner, being a Vendean, and no Breton at all ;
that nothing less than the influence of St. Prix, and a promise
on his part that Gastel should be brought to justice before the
authorities at Lorient, could pacify the excited crowd. M. de
Kergoorlas, too, who was painfully shocked by the occurrence,
not only expressed the deepest sympathy for the braconnier, but

1 9o WOLF-HUNTING.

declared in the strongest terms that, if he died from the injury,
he hoped the law would send the drunken ruffian to the galleys
for life.

When the excitement had somewhat subsided in front of the
Cheval Blanc, and our little party had gathered round a blazing
wood fire in the salle-a-manger, the fate of the missing hounds
became the subject of earnest conversation, ere the programme
was settled for the next day's hunting at Kilvern.

" Out of the eight couple," said St. Prix, " taken to the forest,
two hounds only have been recovered by Louis Trefarreg. The
rest, he thinks, had found an old wolf, and gone away for Locrist
or Dualt. He followed them through Conveau, so far as the
Botderu Monument, and then they broke away over the mountain
waste, and he heard no more of them."

" Small chance have I, then, of ever seeing a hound of them
again," said Kergoorlas, in a tone of sheer despair.

" Never fear," cried Shafto. " Most of them, I'll undertake
to say, will be secured by the peasants, and brought either to
St. Prix's or my kennels ; and probably some may find their way
home to your own kennels on the Loire."

" I wish I could think so," said the disconsolate owner,
determined not to be comforted • " but fifty leagues of country,
bristling with furze, broom, and forest, are not likely to be
traversed by hounds already wearied by a hard day's work.
Besides, if the pack breaks up, and they straggle singly over
the wilderness, the wolves will eat every hound of them, to a
certainty."

Shafto was on the point of relating a story about a pack of
hounds which their owner, wishing to be rid of them, had taken
into a far country, found a fox, and then left them running, a
legacy to the land, when St. Prix, remarking the lateness of the
hour, entreated the attention of the chasseurs to the necessity of
at once settling the plan with respect to Kilvern, the meet at

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 191

which place was fixed for eight o'clock that morning. " We have
only four hours for rest," said he, energetically ; " and as it is
quite clear Kergoorlas will be unable to keep the appointment
with. the remnant of his pack, you and I, Shafto, must put our
shoulders to the wheel, and help him out of this difficulty. But
the piqueurs wait for orders, and we must decide at once how it
shall be done."

" You are welcome to every hound of mine," responded Shafto,
heartily; "but I doubt if more than six couple will be found
available, after that last day at Gwernez."

" Quite enough, with six couple of mine," said St. Prix, always
an advocate for a short pack, when boar and not wolf was the
game to be pursued. Louis Trefarreg was then summoned, and
the trusty piqueur having received the fullest instructions with
respect to the rendezvous and the hounds to be first uncoupled
on the drag, the party of chasseurs broke up, and, with the
exception of one, retired every man forthwith to his chamber.

That one was M. de Kergoorlas, who, in the complication of
trouble that now beset him — the poor braconnier lying insensible
from the murderous attack of his own piqueur, and seven couple
of his noble hounds gone nobody knew whither, and gone
perhaps for ever — was little disposed to seek the rest which,
young, elastic, and robust as he was, even his frame required.
Lingering a few minutes near the embers of the wood fire, still
glowing with heat, till the last of the party had fairly quitted the
salle-ti-manger, he then hastily donned his hunting-cap, and, going
forth into the dark street, directed his steps straight for the gen-
darmerie and the little hospital extemporised for the braconnier's
use.

Without entering into all the details of the wretched scene he
witnessed in this latter place, suffice it to say that all a man could
do he did, by sympathy and substantial aid, to soften the grief
of the poor stricken Breton woman who, by the side of the

i92 WOLF-HUNTING.

braconnier's bed, was bathing his temples with cold lotions, and
tenderly adjusting his pillow to the varying motions of his injured
head. Nor was his kindly visit wholly unattended by consolation,
inasmuch as he was assured by the medical officer that — the
braconnier's habits with respect to drink having always been most
temperate — he yet entertained, notwithstanding the severity of
the concussion, a confident hope in his ultimate recovery. This
opinion produced unspeakable relief to Kergoorlas's mind ; for if
fatal results were to follow the blow inflicted by his own servant,
the public would not fail to regard him as the indirect cause of
the murder, and the stain, however unmerited, would probably
cling to his name for life.

Far different was the spectacle in the prison-ward of the
gendarmerie. There, close pinioned, and utterly powerless for
the commission of any violent act, lay Gastel, the piqueur, his
eyes glaring like those of a wild beast, fierce but without expres-
sion, and his whole visage distorted by delirium tremeiis. A more
painful sight, Kergoorlas declared, it was never his lot to witness.
The man was not then drunk ; but, his brain on fire and his
reason gone, except in form, he was far more like a wolf of the
forest than a human being.

" Absinthe has done it all," said the doctor gravely. " He has
been an inveterate dram-drinker for a long period, I understand ;
and if so, this attack will go hard with him."

"Quite true," replied Kergoorlas ; "for although I have rarely
seen him in a state of helpless intoxication, from morning to night
he gave his stomach no rest. He began the day with absinthe ;
then it was for ever a goutte of this or a goutte of that, whenever
chance threw liquor in his way ; and so Nature has sent in her
account at last."

" And a heavy one, too, it is. However," added the doctor,
cheerfully, " we'll do our best to help him to meet it, bad as the
schedule looks on the debtor's side."

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 193

" Aye, I know you will," responded Kergoorlas, earnestly.

A glimmer of light now crossing the poor wretch's brain, and
the familiar sound of his master's voice falling simultaneously on
his ear, he instantly recognised it, and, looking up with a piteous
expression, begged to know where he was — why he was pinioned
— and wherefore detained in that place ? — and "Oh !" he groaned
out, " such a horrid dream have I had ! — hunted down by a pack
of wolves, that have been crunching and gnawing at my skull, and
lapping up the very dregs of my brain ! Oh ! such torture ! "
He then burst into a flood of tears, which, it was hoped, would
have brought him some relief; but in another instant his reason
again forsook him, and he shrieked wildly, " They're coming
again, I tell you — they're on me ! — on me ! Fire, fire ! "

Kergoorlas's nerves, though not easily touched, trembled like
reeds in a running river at this awful sight \ and, as he afterwards
confessed, if he had not beaten a hasty retreat, the cold chill
that seized him must have paralysed the action of his heart,
and brought him senseless to the floor — so he rushed from the
cell. He had intended, after visiting the gendarmerie, to look
up the several quarters at which his hounds were billeted, as he
was anxious to ascertain what hounds they were that were now
missing — whether the puppies had gone or the chiefs of the chase,
or in what proportion both had been abducted ; but he was too
much affected by the appalling vision he had just witnessed to
think of anything besides. Bidding the officials a hasty adieu, he
returned directly to the hotel, and casting himself at full length
on his narrow pallet, he was speedily enjoying, by the suspension
of his mental and bodily powers, the blissful rest that sleep alone
can give.

There is a mode of taxing dogs in France by which, if lost,
their recovery is greatly facilitated by the aid of the government.
When the tax is paid for a dog, every mark, like the " signes par-
ticuliers " in a passport, by which the animal can be identified,

i94 WOLF-HUNTING.

is duly registered; and, thus instructed, the police, the gen-
darmes, and the gardes-champetres, in " correspondance " with
every station from one end of the country to the other, are able
to trace and recover a dog, whether stolen or strayed, on almost
every occurrence of such a misadventure. Of course early notice
must be given of the loss, or a thief in possession of a valuable
animal may take ship, or cross the frontier, and then there is an
end of the " correspondance."

In Lower Brittany, however, a single dog on stray has little
or no chance of escaping the wolves in the winter season ; for, as
already stated, throughout the ancient region of Cornouaille,
comprising a large portion of Morbihan and Finisterre — a region
of broom, heather, and forest — the inhabitants of the small towns
are compelled to keep fires burning during a heavy fall of snow,
to save their dogs at night from the prowling wolves. And not
only by night do they commit these raids, but, when pinched by
hunger, they venture on them even by day. During my stay at
Carhaix an instance of it occurred at Quimper, and created no
little sensation among the quiet, picturesque inhabitants of that
old-fashioned town. An English lady, long resident in that
vicinity, was walking on the high road in the suburbs of the
town in company with a favourite spaniel, when a wolf, dashing
out of a neighbouring thicket, seized poor Fido across the back,
and, notwithstanding the lady's energetic screams, carried him,
crunched in his jaws, to the adjoining forest. This, however,
must have been a bold brigand, a kind of Dick Turpin among
the wolves ; for certain it is, that such a highway robbery by day-
light rarely occurs even in the severest weather.

The Bretons of that country, a people of serious demeanour
and primitive habits, retire early to bed as a general rule ; but, as
on the present occasion, if anything is going on in the way of
hunting, especially that most popular sport the chase of the wild
boar, no matter at what hour they seek their couches, they are sure

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 195

to be up and stirring on the wished-for morrow long before day-
break. At six o'clock, then, not only was the Cheval Blanc wide
awake, but the whole town of Gourin was ringing with a confused
din of men's voices, the clatter of sabots, curs barking, hounds
baying, and the notes of many brazen horns, creating a combined
discord, worthy of the Eumenides.

At my bedside, before I was half awake, and before I could
exactly comprehend what the row was, Keryfan stood erect in full
hunting costume, and, with his voluminous horn in hand, was pre-
paring to salute me with his favourite air, " La sortie du Chenil."
" A cold pig," had there been water enough, would have been far
less trying to my nerves at that moment ; so, to avert the inflic-
tion, I screeched out, at the top of my voice, " Hold hard,
Keryfan, for mercy's sake, hold hard ! You've broken my rest,
and you'll break the drum of my ear if you blow that horn now."

" Well, then, turn out, Frank," said he, provokingly. " Louis
Trefarreg and Shafto have gone on with the hounds ; and St. Prix
means to be punctual at the meet, having made up his mind to
return to Carhaix this evening."

" I'll do anything," I replied, " if you'll only keep that horn
quiet j give me twenty minutes, and I shall be ready — not for a
start exactly, but for that cup of coffee you know so well how to
brew."

" You shall have it, Frank ; but despatch, mind, despatch !
that's the word ; for St. Prix will not wait one minute after seven
o'clock."

Hitherto our Gonrin meeting, barring a few trifling discom-
forts, had been one of unmixed pleasure and success ; and, as
Shafto was very anxious to draw some large covers, lying westward
of Kilvern, and to entertain our party at the " Hermitage " (though
how he proposed compressing us into four rooms was never
explained), the meeting would probably have been prolonged
over ^another week, and Shafto's hospitality, only bounded by

196 WOLF-HUNTING.

walls, tested to its utmost limits — Janua patet ; cor magis, might
fairly be applied to such a man. But, cheerful as this prospect
was, we were constrained to abandon it, owing to the untoward
events that had occurred during our absence at Concarneau and
Carnac ; events that could not but cast a gloom on every member
of the hunting party.

To add to our regret, just as we were about to start, Kergoorlas
had sent a message from his bed-room to St. Prix, begging the
latter to pardon him for not coming to the front at Kilvern that
day ; as, he declared, it would be quite impossible for him to
enjoy any sport, while his thoughts were so occupied by the
scene of misery he had so recently witnessed ; and that he
deemed it his duty to remain at Gourin, while the two poor
fellows at the gendarmerie were lying in such imminent danger.
We were none of us surprised at this determination, though very
loth to lose his good company ; especially as we were not likely
to see anything more of him during the present season.

It was a fine breezy morning, the wind blowing steadily from
the west and directly in our teeth, as we trotted along over that
dreary, serrated ridge, so well named the " backbone of Brittany,"
a region of stunted heather and granite rocks, arid, barren, and
desolate, and at length, reaching the head of a deep ravine, the
woodlands of which appeared to be interminable, we crossed a
small brook and soon sighted the outskirts of Kilvern. The
scenery of this country is certainly not so grand as that of our
own Highlands ; but the wildest glen of the Trosachs is no wilder
than this vast gorge, rugged and seamed as it is, far as the eye
can see, with rock and chasm, forest, and fierce torrents — a rare
homestead in all weather for the wolf and the boar ; which, so
long as Nature holds her own, will always find shelter and security
in the recesses of this rude domain.

The site of the rendezvous, as the meet is termed, was a clitter
of rocks overhanging and frowning upon the dark cover below -}

WILD SPORT IN 3RITTANY. 197

and in the wide world, it would be difficult to find a more appro-
priate spot for such a gathering, the savage grandeur of the scene
being in perfect keeping with the throng of picturesque, half-civilized
Bretons, who, all clad in jackets of the roughest goat-skin, stood
clustering around the huge, fierce-looking, wire-haired wolf-hounds,
gazing with admiration now on this hound and now on that, as the
well-known leaders of many a bygone chase. But their caresses,
when offered, seemed anything but welcome to some of the chiefs,
especially to old Caesar, whose surly growl, stiff stern, and inde-
pendent attitude, looked very much as if he was inclined to say,
"Keep your hands to yourself; I'm a rough customer, and resent
liberties."

The report of the piqueurs was most favourable ; a couple of
full-sized boar had been tracked into a patch of scrub-cover close
below us ; while, farther down in the valley, several pigs had
crossed and recrossed the main stream, and were supposed to
be lying somewhere among the boulders that, in vast fragments,
were piled one on the other against the opposite hill. A strong-
hold was this, overgrown with ivy and clematis, and looked
exactly like the ruins of some ancient castle, the towers of which
had been overthrown and disjected by a mighty earthquake. The
consultation between St. Prix and his " field " was shorter than
usual ; it being at once determined to uncouple Harmonic and
Veteran, and clap them on the drag of the two boars. These two
hounds had been originally entered on boar, and had never been
allowed to join the pack on wolf-hunting days j consequently, they
were not only staunch to the scent of the former, but had shown a
marked distaste for that of the latter ; so, where there was a chance
of change from one game to the other, as would be the case in
these deep covers abounding with wolves and riot of various
description, two such dependable leaders were invaluable to the
master, when, as on the present occasion, boar was the object
of the day's chase.

i98 WOLF-HUNTING.

The quiet way in which hounds are thrown into cover in
Lower Brittany, at the onset, contrasts remarkably with the up-
roar of tongue and horn that instantly follows the rousing of the
game and many subsequent features of the chase. Scarcely now
did a single cheer escape St. Prix's lips, as Harmonic and Veteran,
released from their couples, swung over the tainted line, and with
lashing sterns and doubled tongue, at once disappeared into the
depths of the cover; nor, for a few minutes, was there a word
spoken by that large and wild-looking group of chasseurs that
stood in listening attitude, noting every variation in the hounds'
tongues, and ready to slip any number of couples at the first signal
given by St. Prix's horn. The example of the Louvetier was pro-
bably the cause of this steadiness on the part of the peasants ;
and, indeed, so long as they were under his eye, the control he
exercised over his rude followers appeared to be absolute ; but
the first blast of that horn, announcing the game a-foot, acted like
a galvanic battery on their nerves, and seemed to kindle their
savage hunting nature at once into a wild flame.

In the mountains of Wales, not many years ago, the fashion
in fox-hunting, so far as noise, outcry, and hubbub were deemed
necessary to cheer the hounds and scare the prey, was very
similar to that followed in Brittany at the present day. His
Breton brother, however, at the commencement of the chase, is
far quieter and less riotous than the old Cambrian hunter, whose
halloos and cheers to individual favourite hounds never cease
from the moment they are thrown into cover, hit upon a drag, or
maintain the chase, till they kill their fox, or, failing that, till the
stars appear in the sky.

The practice of hallooing hounds, now all but discarded in
the modern chase of the fox, is made the subject of more than
one of Beckford's admirable letters. He tells us that " such
halloos as serve to keep the hounds together, and to get on the
tail-hounds, are always of use j it is the halloos of encouragement

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 199

to the leading hounds, when injudiciously given, that spoil your
sport : they are pleasing to sportsmen, but prejudicial to hounds."
And again — "If hounds are often used to a halloo, they will
expect it, and may trust, perhaps, to their ears and eyes more
than to their noses."

Exactly so ; the power of that one sense given to the nose is
weakened at once, if another sense, that of seeing or listening, is
called into action at the same time. Therefore halloos, when
hounds are running, must generally be a mischievous accompani-
ment to the chase, and do far more harm than good in the long
run. That word halloo, by-the-bye, has, as I believe, a French
origin, and is derived, not as the lexicographers say, from the
word " haler," but from the practice of shouting " Au loop — an
loop," which, phonetically written, would be precisely halloo — the
very word used to encourage hounds to pursue their game at the
present day both in France and England. Shakspeare, speaking
of a hound's note, says,

" A cry more tunable
Was never halloo'd to, nor cheered with horn."

But hark ! it is a lucky thing Harmonie and Veteran have
been clinging to the line closer than my pen. Hark ! the two
good hounds have unharboured a brace of boar, and St. Prix's
horn is ringing out merrily, " Les animaux en compagnie ; " while
Shafto and a group of peasants, stationed a far way down the
ravine and ahead of the cry, are uncoupling for their lives, and
throwing in more hounds to back up the chase. Then the
thunder of war bursts out in earnest ; and horns and hounds,
halloos and echoes, shake the old forest to its uttermost bounds;
and if that tornado in their rear do not strike the flying boar with
terror, they must have stout hearts indeed ! Be that as it may,
down the valley pours the chase like a cataract ; and contrary to
Louis Trefarreg's expectation, not often wrong in his tactics, the
boar do not attempt to cross the stream and seek the shelter of

200 WOLF-HUNTING.

the rocks on the opposite heights, but, holding on still to the
same sideland, neither sinking nor breasting the hill, they trust to-
their legs and endeavour to shake off by wild flight the pursuit
of the foe. So those peasant sharpshooters, posted by Louis on
certain points of the stream, usually crossed by the pigs, never
fire a shot ; and a rattling good run is the fortunate result. For
two hours or more the roar of war never flags for a moment ; and
although twelve couple of hounds are close on their haunches,
the pigs are still making strong running in front of the fray.

" Oh that Kergoorlas were here ! " shouts Keryfan to me,
" just to hear that grand peal ringing through the vale ; it would
drive him half wild with delight."

The wish had scarcely been uttered, when we heard a clatter
in our rear; and looking round, to our intense amazement, we
beheld Kergoorlas coming up at a hand-gallop, his horse flecked
with foam, and four couple of great, grim, wire-haired hounds
following on close to his heels. The wild huntsman of the Black
Forest could scarcely have startled us more than Kergoorlas's
company at such a moment ; and before we could inquire by
what lucky spell he had been able to join us, he roared out, " I
heard them a league off, and thought I should never catch you !
But what a scent ; and what music ! "

Not another word did he fling to us, as he dashed past on
Grenadier, eager to throw his fresh lot in at the head to increase
the volume of music he so dearly loved to hear ; and it was at
least three hours afterwards ere we learned the cause of his
welcome but most unexpected reappearance among us. It
turned out that, immediately on our departure for Kilvern, he
had gone to the hospital, and hearing a favourable report of both
patients — the braconnier having recovered consciousness, and the
piqueur's delirium indicating an abatement satisfactory to the
medical officer — he ordered Grenadier to be saddled, and gather-
ing together four couple of hounds — all that were effective of his

WILD SPORT IN 3RITTANY. 201

late noble pack — he had followed us to the field. The parley at
the cover-side had been unusually brief, and the find more than
usually quick, or his stern chase would not have been so long.

After he had passed Keryfan and myself at that terrific pace,
fully accounting for the foam with which his gallant steed was
bespattered, we never glimpsed him again till we found him
standing astride over a fine bristly boar, sounding the "mort"
with all the breath left in his body, and six couple of hounds
baying round the dead game in a fervent strain of joy and
exultation. He was all alone ; the hounds had divided ; and
these having brought their pig to bay, he had followed up, and>
arriving just in time, had been lucky enough to administer the
coup -de-grace ere a single hound had been injured.

St. P rix's doings with the rest of the pack must be reserved
for another chapter.

202 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ft

NOTES ever welcome to the Breton's ear are those proclaiming
the " mort " over the captured game ; and when that game
happens to be the wolf or the tusky boar, his paeans of exultation
burst out into the wildest strains of gratitude and joy. The
"who-whoop" of our countrymen, vigorous even as that of
Osbaldeston when " it might have been heard at Cottesmore,"
is a mild finale compared with the demonstration enacted in a
Brittany forest, when the sylvan war is brought to a close by a
successful and decisive victory. Nor is the flourish of horns,
commingled with the din of hounds and men, without its service-
able use, a mere vox et prater ea nihil — an ebullition of joy, and
nothing more, in that forest-land — but, on the contrary, by con-
veying the news of victory far and wide, the scattered forces of
the field, thrown out by the ever-recurring vicissitudes of the
chase, are gathered together from all quarters to share and enjoy
the triumph over the fallen foe.

So when Keryfan and I came up to him, although Kergoorlas
was then alone, standing over the boar in an attitude that, but
for its animation, might have been taken for an antique statue,
and blowing his voluminous horn till his cheeks were well-nigh
cracked, in less than ten minutes a score of peasants had assem-
bled at the spot, all uniting to swell the hubbub, and looking
forward to a division of the spoil with eager eyes. However

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 203

nothing surprised me more, considering the damage they had
sustained by the pigs, and the real treat fresh meat must have
been to them, than the orderly and modest conduct of the
peasants on every occasion when the boar was cut up and
divided amongst them. This business was always managed under
the direction of the Louvetier, M. de St. Prix, who, as before
stated, exercised a paramount influence over the peasantry through-
out the district of Cornouaille. His word was their law; and if
at the right time a blow had been struck in favour of the Legiti-
mate claim to the throne of France, I verily believe he could have
brought every man of that country to the field, one and all at his
back, in support of his own views and the old Bourbon blood.
But St. Prix loved hunting better than politics, and far preferred
the sound of his own sylvan horn to the fiercer clang of the
martial trumpet ; though, if his king had called on him, he would
have gone to the front like a man, and then other and abler
pens would probably have recorded his glory in fields more
sanguinary but less joyous than those of a Brittany forest. Mine
be the simpler task of telling how gallant his bearing, and how
skilful his tactics ever were in all matters pertaining to the manly
chase.

The great size of the boar, seeing he was not a solitaire,
appeared to astonish the peasants not a little, for it is a most
unusual event to find an old male tusker, of a certain weight and
age, in company with another pig. But St. Prix's success, as we
afterwards found, revealed the secret. That other pig, his com-
panion, was a young sow, full-grown, but lean and long-legged as
a greyhound, and fit to go for her life. The old gentleman had
evidently stuck to his mate so long as his wind would permit
him ; but that failing him, he turned short, and so let in a few
of the tail-hounds and Kergoorlas's lot, which, throwing fresh
strength into the struggle, soon brought him to bay and then
to bite the dust, under the couteau that struck him to the heart.

204 WOLF-HUNTING.

One blow sufficed, and so rapidly was it given that not a hound
was scratched in the affair.

Hog-hunting, as practised in India, is doubtless a most
exciting and manly sport, requiring not only good nerve in the
rider, but thorough skill in the management of his horse and
spear, good hands, and a quick eye — these are indispensable
gifts ; and the honour of, winning " first spear " and the tusks,
no matter how swift the steed may be, will only accidentally fall
to the lot of him who lacks such needful qualifications. But the
danger of pursuing the boar in this fashion is not to be compared
with the risk a man runs when he closes, chasse-couteau in hand,
with the brute at bay. His charge then, if his wind has not been
completely pumped out of him, is certain to do serious mischief ;
and woe be to the hunter who is a laggard in striking the blow
rapidly and expertly so soon as the hounds have done their
work — brought him fairly to bay. Kergoorlas would not have
missed that feat for a dukedom.

But let us now follow St. Prix, who, when the big boar turned
short, and the tail-hounds turned with him, kept his ear on the
leading hounds, and sticking to them, found to his joy that,
though the hounds had divided, the body of the pack was still
with him, and the pig going straight for the river in the hollow
vale below. There, he well knew, the beast would make a stand ;
and, as the stream was a broad and rocky one, his anxiety for the
hounds' safety impelled him forward at a terrific pace. If Barbe-
bleu, on which he was fortunately mounted, had possessed the
legs of a mountain-cat, he needed them all in descending that
steep ravine, obstructed as he was at every stride by the tangled
brake and rugged ground over which he was compelled to travel
so rapidly. But the gallant steed carried him, like a dragon on
wings, through and over every impediment; though, as Shafto,
who had vainly attempted to keep pace with him, afterwards told
us, it was nothing short of a miracle how both man and horse

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 205

escaped utter annihilation. However, by the time we reached
him, at least an hour after Kergoorlas and the peasants had slung
up the slain boar by the heels for future dissection, he was sound-
ing " La sortie de 1'eau " complacently on the river bank, and
without a symptom of his usual lively excitement. The hounds,
too, were sitting on their haunches, regarding with intent look the
boar, as she stood mid-waist in the water, her back arched like a
bow, her jaws smeared with froth, and her hind-quarters planted
firmly against the roots of a gnarled oak-tree.

Shafto and half a score peasants were there, restraining the
hounds with rate and lash, until the stragglers, especially Keryfan
and myself, could be brought up by the well-known signal to see
the finish. St. Prix had ascertained the sex of the pig ; and,
although the crunch of a sow's jaws is no joke, it is not to be
compared to the rip of a tusker, who, if he gets a fair cut at limb
or body, leaves a life, if not a death mark, on the unlucky victim.
So St. Prix's complacency was at once accounted for ; he had
enjoyed, too, a fine run, and was now patiently awaiting the
arrival of his " field/' and resting his hounds, ere he 'loo'd them
on to their last attack.

Men are all selfish animals ; and even among those devoted to
hunting, of all sports the most social, few there be who will not
confess to a certain amount of satisfaction in being able, either by
their own judgment or their steed's merits, or even by sheer luck,
to see "a good thing" across country, and to find themselves
living with hounds " alone in their glory," while the rest of the
"field" are "positively nowhere." The tendency to self-glorifi-
cation is, doubtless, at the root of this inward chuckle ; though, in
ten minutes after the ardour of the chase has evaporated, every
good fellow will hate himself for allowing his heart to entertain
so selfish a feeling. St. Prix, as he urged the gallant Barbe-bleu
down that rugged hill-side, and felt as if he was carried by
"A creature winged, I swear,"

206 WOLF-HUNTING.

home to the stern of his hounds, might well be pardoned if a
tinge of pride mantled to his brow at that moment; but the
colouring, if it came, was as transient as the shade of a summer
cloud, for no man on earth could be less selfish, either in the
chase or at home, than St. Prix; no one could love to share
pleasure with another better than he did.

" Bravo, Kergoorlas ! " he exclaimed with delight, as, to his
great surprise, he saw that chasseur in our company. " Bravo !
you and your hounds are just in time to do us good service with
yonder pig. I have been running her hard for three hours ; but
she has fresh caught her wind now, and will hold us a good tug
yet."

The moment he had driven her to soil St. Prix had given an
order that no gun should be used, and that he meant to kill the
game beast by fair hunting alone ; and now, with the reinforce-
ment brought up by Kergoorlas, he expected to accomplish that
object without much difficulty.

One cheer and a blast on his horn sent every hound plunging
into the stream ; but as it was some twenty yards across, and the
pig's standpoint was under cover of the opposite bank, before a
hound could reach her she dashed down the stream swiftly as
a red deer, swimming the pools, and making the water fly from
her heels as she scampered over the shallow bed. Never was
heard a finer crack of music than opened in her rear ; and so
determinedly did the beast cleave to the river, in which she had
already found such good shelter, that, press her as they would,
the hounds fairly failed to make her land and seek for refuge else-
where. So for more than half-an-hour the chase became literally
more like an otter than a boar-hunt. Twice, when brought
temporarily to bay, did St. Prix bound into the stream, thinking
to bury his couteau behind her shoulder-blade, and twice did the
wary beast elude the blow, flying down stream like a water-ouzel,

WILD SPORT IN BRITIANY. 207

and plunging in and out of pools, as if water were her native
element.

" Now this is what I call sport," said Keryfan to me, just as
the hounds had again brought the pig to bay. " It reminds me,
Frank, of that day when you and I joined Mr. Trelawny's pack on
the Plym river, and had the good fortune to see them kill a fine
dog-otter under Cann Quarries. Such a dashing, crashing, amphi-
bious lot as they were I shall never forget."

" True enough. That was the day when a hound called
Wanderer made so many fine hits, and at last marked the otter
in a holt that proved to be a wasp's nest — when, as they sallied
forth to revenge the intrusion, old Limpetty, the huntsman, blew
his horn like a madman, bolted off, and rode his horse Jack
Sheppard head-foremost into a deep pool. But luckily the otter,
as you remember, Keryfan, bolted too, or, backed as he was by
such protection, we could never have touched him again."

By crossing a narrow strip of open ground, guided by the
peasants, we now managed to cut off a long bend of the river
just in time to head the chase, as the pig, with her mouth wide
open, and reduced to a trot, came struggling through the flood
right up to us. The hounds were close on her ; but as there was
no friendly rock, nor even the roots of a tree, against which she
could bring her back to bear and face the foe, she still struggled
on towards the precipitous bank on which we all stood to witness
the scene. She was too beaten, however, to gain even that point -}
for, in attempting to cross a run of shallow water, a couple of the
leading hounds, old Csesar being one of them, seized her by the
hams, and in another instant, as all three rolled over together, at
least five couple more had fixed their fangs in her fore and aft,
holding fast on, and tugging at her as if her hide must be torn in
one minute into " a hundred tatters of brown." But not a bit of
it — not an inch of her hide was broken ; and it is impossible to

2o8 . WOLF-HUNTING.

say how long the desperate fight might have lasted, if St. Prix,
observing one hound badly crunched, had not sprung in amongst
them, and with a quick blow brought the struggle to an end.
Caesar had more scars on his face, some of them of very recent
date, than his imperial namesake, a warrior all his life, could boast
of on his whole body ; but I was delighted to find the brave old
hound had not added another notch to the ugly score on the
present occasion.

" Two good boars slain in fair fight, and not a shot fired ! "
exclaimed Kergoorlas, in a transport of delight. " Rare work for
one day, it must be owned."

" But the day is not over yet," said Shafto, whose appetite for
hunting was positively insatiable ; " at least half-a-dozen pigs have
been harboured in the Castle rocks, on the Kilvern side ; and, as
it is but little after mid-day, we surely can't quit the cover without
giving them a brush."

The peasants, especially those who had formed the deputation
to Carhaix, with one voice entreated St. Prix to continue the
•chasse, denouncing the Kilvern pigs as destructive brigands, and
asserting the impossibility of checking their ravages without his
help. One of the speakers, called Tredwyn — a remarkably hand-
some specimen of the farmer class — became quite eloquent on the
subject, and asked, with no little excitement, if the Government
desired to see the peasants of that district extinguished by famine ;
or if the Louvetier, as their neighbour and countryman, would not
do his utmost to rid them of the pests that had destroyed their
crops, and well-nigh ruined the land. " Without hounds," added
he, " we can neither follow them in these vast woodlands, nor dis-
lodge them from that inaccessible pile of rocks, the stronghold in
which so many take refuge."

The appeal was irresistible ; but St. Prix, in making the draft
for storming those craggy heights, positively refused at first to
allow any but his drag-hounds to encounter the danger; and

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 209

alluded, in piteous terms, to the massacre inflicted on his pack
by the big boar at Koenig, on exactly similar rocky ground.
However, as this was to be the last day given to boar-hunting on
that side of the country, and consequently would be the last
opportunity for compensating the peasants' losses by a liberal
supply of bacon, fattened, as they justly averred, on their own
corn and chestnuts, St. Prix gave way, and, in deference to the
wish of all, proceeded with his whole force, sixteen couple strong,
straight for the rocks. In winding their way, not without many
rude obstructions, up the tangled and declivitous path pointed
out by Tredwyn, whose farm lay contiguous to the upper side
of Kilvern, the Louvetier took especial pains to instruct the
peasants on an important point affecting the safety of the hounds.
He warned them not to head the chase before the boar and
hounds were fairly clear of that stronghold, and that they must
give the game ample room to break ; or, if headed back, the fate
of many a brave hound would inevitably be sealed. All this they
promised to attend to ; but St. Prix, not satisfied with this precau-
tion, and knowing how little a Breton in the heat of chase was to
be depended on, ordered Louis Trefarreg to couple up several of
his fiercest hounds — Caesar and Paladin being especially named —
and reserve them as a relais in case of need.

" You may think St. Prix a little too careful of his hounds in
making these arrangements," said Keryfan, as he managed to ride
alongside me, over a bit of level ground cleared by the charcoal-
burners ; " but, if you knew, Frank, how many a good hound he
has lost, and how often his pack has been crippled for the season
by encounters with boar, in these very rocks, too, you would not
wonder at the precaution he takes on such occasions."

" A good general is always chary of the lives of his men," I
replied ; " and to judge from the carnage that occurred at Koenig
and Gwernez, the tactics of the Louvetier appear to indicate a
man lacking neither humane feelings nor sound judgment."

p

2 1 o WOLF-HUNTING.

" Quite true, Frank ; it would be a cruel and short-sighted
policy on his part to allow his hounds to be slashed and ripped
to pieces, if by any means he has the power to save them, and
show sport at the same time ; and this last, you will allow, he
never fails to do."

It was nearly two o'clock ere we fairly reached the outskirts of
the Castle rocks, which, covering an area of several acres on the
side of a precipitous hill, were approachable only in Indian file
over the last half league of ground. Happily, the rugged granite
slabs, although opposing our horses' progress with a slanting, and
sometimes an almost perpendicular, frontage, afforded their feet a
steady hold ; and, after some experience, my cob managed to
creep up and down over their rough surface, and follow Barbe-
bleu as if he had been trained to the work all his life long. It is
quite marvellous how readily a temperate, courageous horse will
accommodate his action to the ground over which he is required
to travel : shortening or lengthening his stride j jumping, creep-
ing, and feeling his way at every step ; or even slithering on his
haunches, as circumstances may need such a mode of descent.
How this last feat can be performed may be seen to great advan-
tage when a good jack-hare is found near Thunder-Barrow or
Telscombe Tye, on the Sussex Downs, the steep and glassy
slopes of which the horses descend at a terrific pace, almost
on their very haunches ; the force of gravitation, and not so
much their hind legs, acting as the propelling power. On Dart-
moor, too, a stranger would hold his breath if he once saw Mr.
Trelawny sitting back in' his saddle, and coming down the steepest
hill-side like an avalanche into the vale below, the greatest danger
being a tendency, on the horse's part, if the pilot be a wavering
one, to deviate from the straight line, and turn right or left on his
downward course.

The wind from the rocks, as we now suddenly rounded a
point of the valley, blew directly towards us ; and the eager look

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 211

of the hounds, as, with heads erect, they sniffed " the tainted
gale," gave unmistakable proof of the presence of game in our
immediate vicinity. The piqueurs had reported that no less than
five full-grown boar had crossed the stream in this direction ; and
although they had not been fairly harboured, owing to the stony
character of the ground, Louis Trefarreg was ready to stake his
reputation that at least five, if not a larger number, were laid up
in this craggy retreat. Already had the peasants disappeared ;
and every point on the river and north sides of the rocks, at
which it was possible for the pigs to break, was guarded by parties
of sharpshooters, thirsting for their blood. Some of them, how-
ever, as it turned out afterwards, were posted directly in front of
one of the chief runs used by the pigs, in utter forgetfulness of St.
Prix's orders ; and the consequence, although not fatal, as great
luck would have it, to more than one hound, proved well-nigh so
to Barbe-bleu, who, but for his rare activity and sense of danger,
must inevitably have come to grief in the narrow path on which
he stood.

The hounds dashed into the cover like a set of dragons, and,
in less than two minutes, the roaring peal of their deep-mouthed
tongues, the blast of horns, and the wild response of a thousand
echoes, created so startling an uproar that every wild animal, from
a marten-cat to the bristly boar, must have quaked for leagues
away at the sound of that terrible din. Two lots of swine were
on their legs in a twinkling — one consisting of four, and the other
of three animals, all full-grown, and long and lanky as a set of
greyhounds. The pricked ears, and the rapid helter-skelter fashion
in which they bundled over the rocks, clearing wide chasms at a
bound, and pitching from the head of giant boulders down on the
slabs below, like chamois descending a mountain ridge, indicated
a degree of terror they rarely show when so many pigs are found
together. On such occasions the master boar, or the old sow, is
usually the hindmost of the lot, either from being less active or

212 WOLF-HUNTING.

with a view to covering the retreat of the flying herd ; but the
moment he is pressed by the pursuing hounds, he wheels' round,
and, backed up by the others, fiercely confronts the whole pack.
Now, however, the assault on their stronghold had been so
sudden, the cry of hounds, the blast of horns, and the echoes so
bewildering, that leaders and all seemed equally panic-stricken,
and only eager to make themselves scarce with all possible
despatch.

Downwards and straight for the stream poured the seven
pigs, as if kicked by so many demons ; while ten couple of
hounds, roaring in their rear, drove them in the wildest confusion
on the very guns of the enemy. Instantly a terrible fire opened
upon them, and two, falling mortally wounded on the edge of the
clitter, were soon despatched by fresh hands joining in the fray ;
four ran the gauntlet, passing unscathed by a dozen peasants, and
escaping at top speed into the woods below ; while the seventh,
apparently the biggest pig of the lot, and evidently a boar, not
relishing the cannonade in front, turned short back in the very
face of the hounds.

Keryfan and I were standing about ten yards below St. Prix ;
and hearing him mutter a deep imprecation on the peasants'
heads, to whose over-eagerness this mischief was alone attribut-
able, I looked up and saw his lips compressed, and every muscle
of his face quivering with alarm. " That's exactly what I feared
would happen," he exclaimed aloud; "and now there'll be wild
work among the hounds before that boar attempts to break
again."

When the boar faced about, he paused for a moment as if
uncertain what course next to pursue — whether to stand at bay,
and meet all comers on that rugged battle-ground, or charge at
once through the pack, now rapidly advancing, and seek refuge in
the iorest by a lateral track, the only egress now available, the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 213

front being hemmed in by a swarm of foes. That moment of
hesitation, however, proved well nigh his last ; for, as he stood out
prominently on the ridge of a vast boulder, his figure denned and
his head somewhat elevated, as if scanning the number and
strength of the enemy, or the weak point at which he might
best make his charge, a peasant, unable to resist the chance,
recklessly drew his trigger ; and while one heavy slug passed
through the boar's ear, causing it to lop at once over his right
-eye, but without doing further injury, another struck a noble
hound, called Helicon, right in the shoulder, and killed him
dead on the spot. Luckily Kergoorlas, the owner of the hound,
was stationed on the opposite side of the cover, and was not aware
till afterwards of the loss he had sustained ; but, had he witnessed
the act, it is more than probable, from his feudal spirit and fiery
nature, that the peasant would have rued that shot to the last day
of his life. As it was, he made himself scarce and quitted the
forest, without daring to face either Kergoorlas or St. Prix, and so
forfeited all claim to a share of the meat when cut up and appor-
tioned at the end of the day.

The report of the peasant's gun, and the smart cuff in his ear
quickly settled the boar's doubts. Away he rushed, twitching his
head violently, into the very thick of the hounds, striking several
fiercely, and hoisting one fairly into the air, but still forging a-head
fast as his legs could carry him, and in one minute, what with
sheer force, wondrous activity, and a thorough knowledge of the
ground, he succeeded in clearing the whole pack, and made
straight for the sideland path on which St. Prix stood. Now
there was no room on that narrow path even for two horses
abreast, nor, from its ledge-like form — there being a wall on one
side and a precipice on the other — was it possible, without
advancing some distance, for St. Prix to wheel his horse round
and avoid the imminent collision. The advance, too, would

2 1 4 WOLF-HUNTING.

have been impracticable, as the boar even now was breaking
directly in the Louvetier's face.

I held my breath as I saw the danger to which he was
exposed, with no power on my part or Keryfan's to lend him a
scrap of aid. He and I had voted our guns a bore on this
occasion, and had sent them with our baggage to Carhaix ; but,
as that huge fierce boar, with the hounds hard after him, his ear
dropped, and his face painted with blood and foam, lowered his
head and prepared to charge Barbe-bleu and his rider, I would
have given all I possessed, or ever hoped to possess, for my old
smooth-bore at that moment. But, mirdbile dictu, it so happened
that neither the horse nor man required such help ; for, just as
the boar dropped his nose, to give him greater power in the use
of his tusks, and when within three feet of the horse's legs, Barbe-
bleu made a sudden spring into the air, and, clearing the pig,
alighted safely on the path beyond, without touching a bristle of
the brute's back. Never could there have been a more timely
jump, nor one displaying a clearer instinct of impending danger,
and the need of instant action.

The boar passed on ; while St. Prix, unslinging his horn, rung
out " La Vue," as coolly and cheerily as if he had viewed a fox
away, and thought nothing of the danger he had so narrowly
escaped. But he talked of it afterwards ; and, while he extolled
the adroitness of Barbe-bleu, he never failed to characterise
himself as a born idiot for getting into that narrow, cramped
path, and exposing himself and horse to such a risk.

However, "all's well that ends well," especially if the result
be a profitable experience. £Jot more than eight couple of
hounds got away with the boar ; but they were ample for the
work, and in less than half-an-hour brought him to bay in the
rocky river, not far from the spot where we had killed our
second pig. He was dead beat ; and a peasant, coming up

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 215

before he had recovered his wind, and consequently before he
could do much mischief, sent his balk-mariee right through his
heart. He was a grand beast, with bristles enough, strong as
wire, for all the cordonniers in Lower Brittany, and his weight
could not have been much under 3oolbs.

216 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER XIX.

THAT last was a grand day at Kilvern, and gave, both by the
sport and its result, unqualified satisfaction to the peasants of the
district ; but it was a long and a heavy one, and we did not
reach Carhaix before ten o'clock that night- — a late hour, con-
sidering the work done by the hounds and the brief rest enjoyed
by the chasseurs, by night and day, during the whole of the past
week.

" I feel as if I could sleep for a fortnight,'' said Keryfan, rising
from a table that, by its debris of bones and bottles, bore witness
to a vast demolition of cutlets and La Rose claret ; and, seizing
his candle, he begged hard that the usual le reveil might not be
sounded on the morrow morn, at least within the walls of the
Hotel d'Auvergne.

" What ! own yourself beaten, Keryfan ?" said Shafto, always
ready and fresh either for sport or badinage. " Well, I little
thought to have heard such a confession from a man whom I
have hitherto regarded as the Paladin of Breton chasseurs."

" Can't help it," said Keryfan, yawning. " I've worked hard
and fed well, and feel just now more like a python than a man, so
must have my whack of sleep, and then to work again."

Hereupon interposed Marseillier, the ever-obliging host, who
promised to do his best to keep the house quiet, but reminded
Keryfan that, the following day being Sunday, all Carhaix would

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 217

be astir, and that every man possessing a horn would not fail to
summon his neighbour and every dog in the town to the chase,
long before a streak of light appeared in the sky.

" And you. mean to join them, of course ? " said Keryfan,
growing half savage at the prospect of not being allowed to
indulge in a long spell of sleep after so much fatigue.

" Of course," rejoined Marseillier, with an air of unfeigned
astonishment on his good-natured face that such a question could
be asked him ; "to be sure I do. Why, it's the only day out
of the seven on which business will permit a poor bourgeois to
enjoy his life and give rest to his brain."

The disregard of the sabbath as a day of rest being the
popular and general practice of that country, Keryfan had no
notion, on moral grounds, of interfering with his neighbours'
amusements on that sacred day. Its desecration was too habitual
among all classes of the community to arouse within him the
faintest scruple of conscience on the subject, for he had never
been taught in childhood what every village schoolboy learns,
,as his first lesson, in this more favoured land — those words of
"Poor Richard," that

"A Sunday well spent brings a week of content,

And strength for the toils of the morrow ;
But a Sunday profaned, whate'er may be gained,
Is the certain forerunner of sorrow."

That the cup of sorrow has been drained, over and over again,
to its bitterest dregs, by that people who, of all others on earth,
do most dishonour to the sabbath-day, cannot be denied ; though
whether it be or be not for this very sin that the nation has been
so heavily visited by God's wrath, it is not for man to decide.

Marseillier's renewed assurance that neither le point du Jour
nor le reveil should be sounded on his premises if he could
possibly prevent it (for he had a most voluminous and discordant
horn of his own, and was very fond of blowing it whenever he

2i8 WOLF-HUNTING.

joined the town-chasse) seemed to satisfy Keryfan, who was well
aware of his host's weakness on this point ; and, having so far
gained his object, he withdrew for the night.

The gap in our little circle, occasioned by the absence of the
Comte de Kergoorlas, was the subject of great disappointment
to all • but, encompassed as he was with so many troubles at
Gourin, the result of which might probably involve him in serious
difficulty hereafter, he felt it was imperative on him, both as a
matter of duty and self-interest, to repair thither without
delay after the sport at Kilvern ; and to this necessity we were
compelled reluctantly to bow.

But now to return to the forest. The obsequies over that last
boar were soon ended ; nor was his carcase honoured with the
fanfare of horns that usually proclaimed the final triumph over
the bristly foe. No less than five boar, suspended by the heels
in various forest trees, awaited dissection, ere St. Prix could
venture to quit the ground and take his hounds home to their
Carhaix kennel. The day was waning fast; and as this work
was the especial duty of Louis Trefarreg and his piqueurs, under
the direction of the Louvetier himself, it was done, as may be
supposed, in a rough-and-ready fashion, and with a despatch
rendered necessary by the gloom of night that even now darkened
the glen. It was marvellous, however, considering the tools used
— two or three chasse-couteaux and one small battle-axe, which
Louis Trefarreg bore in his belt — how adroitly the head and
quarters were severed, and the chines divided with a precision
worthy of a Paris charcutier. The distribution of all this meat,
roughly estimated at ten hundred-weight, was quickly effected,
and, as heretofore, appeared to give the peasants unqualified
satisfaction ; but if the tales about their crops were true, that
amount of compensation could scarcely have been considered an
equivalent for the damage they had sustained by the plundering
habits of so many pigs. The sport was doubtless the first object;

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 219

for, to judge by the wild delight evinced on every occasion by
the drag, the chase, or the kill, it was impossible to resist the
conclusion that, after all, the sport alone would have gone a long
way in satisfying the wrongs endured by these manly fellows.

When Kergoorlas turned his back on this wild woodland
scene, of all that noble pack, eighteen couple strong, that he had
brought with him but a few days before from Upper Brittany,
seven hounds only remained to follow him home from the field.
The others, either rendered hors-de-combat by death or wounds, or
straying, after that fatal day at Conveau, over the trackless wastes
of the Black Mountains, made up a list of casualties long enough
and vexatious enough to break the heart of a man less sanguine
and elastic than that of Kergoorlas. He was not one, however,
to yield complacently to adverse circumstances, and cry out for
help from Jupiter before he had put his own shoulder to the
wheel ; but, on the contrary, the loss of his hounds, which he
felt grievously, seemed to rouse his spirit and at once to add
fresh fuel to his natural energy; and, as he turned in his saddle
to survey the scanty lot that, in answer to their names, instantly
separated from the pack, and, with sterns erect, gathered in
closely to his horse's heels, his last words were, " Helicon,
Mareschal, and Niobe are, I grieve to say, past recovery, and
many of my leading hounds are badly wounded ; but, for the
rest, if uneaten by wolves, I'll draw every hamlet and forest in
Lower Brittany till I find them ; so we may meet again."

He then bid us adieu, and set his horse's head direct for
Gourin. On arriving in that town, his first business was to repair
to the hospital — on which, indeed, even in the fervour of the
chase, his thoughts had been intent throughout the day; for,
though the morning report was favourable, he was fully aware
that the lives of both the men, the braconnier and piqueur, must
still be in the utmost jeopardy. " The painful suspense I
endured " (he wrote to St. Prix on the following day) " ere I

220 WOLF-HUNTING.

reached the gendarmerie, can never be effaced from my memory.
With hasty strides I approached the building, and the nearer I
drew to it, the stronger grew my presentiment that evil tidings
awaited me within its walls. My nerves are not easily disturbed,
as you well know ; but you might have knocked me down with
a marabout feather, when, in crossing the threshold, the medical
officer blurted out, ' It's all over. In five minutes after you left,
your piqueur Gastel had a fit, from which he never rallied ; and
he died at noon.'"

" And the braconnier ? " I inquired, gasping with expectation
of hearing still worse news.

"'Is doing well,' he replied, with confidence, 'and with care
and rest, will probably be none the worse for the concussion in
a week or two.' "

" You can easily imagine," continued Kergoorlas in his letter
" what comfort this information brought me ; for the complication
would have been indeed a serious one for me had the braconnier
died from a blow inflicted by my servant, and, as the world would
believe, on my account. Then there was the man's wife. It
would have changed some of your scruples, St. Prix, had you
witnessed, as I did, the unwearied, gentle tenderness and
devotion with which she watched, and nursed, and soothed him
in his agony. It was a picture I should like to paint — that
homely but handsome peasant-girl — for she could scarcely have
seen twenty summers — transformed by love into a ministering
angel. Such a proof of what a woman can feel and do, as a
help-meet, for the man she loves, would compel you, as it did
me, to think better of the sex for the rest of your life."

The remainder of the letter described, in glad terms, the
unexpected return of six couple of the lost hounds, which, to
the great surprise of all, found their way back to their recent
quarters at Gourin ; and this, too, as was supposed, of their own
accord. But it tuftied out afterwards that, luckily, a half-bred

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 221

hound belonging to the braconnier had followed his master and
the sabottiers to the forest of Conveau, and, having joined the
pack when the wolf was roused, had held on with the chase ;
and this hound, well acquainted with the country, had doubtless
acted as pioneer, and brought the rest back to his own home.

Not only hounds, but horses, buffalo, deer, and, in fact, all
gregarious animals, when beset by danger or difficulties, are wont,
as a rule, to adopt a leader and to trust implicitly to him for
safety and deliverance. And it is no less marvellous than true
that, in the selection of that leader, unerring instinct prompts
them to distinguish the right animal for the right place, and to
choose the one of all others the most capable and best qualified,
either by courage, strength, local knowledge, or superior sagacity,
to bring them in safety out of their trouble. Who that has read
the passage can forget Lord Byron's description of the "trampling
troop" of wild horses, and their mighty leader, in that story of
Mazeppa? While the steed, to which he was so fast bound,
fell at length, and, with glazing eyes and reeking limbs, lay
immovable —

' ' A thousand horse, the wild, the free,
Like waves that follow o'er the sea,
Came thickly thundering on.

* * * * *

On came the troop — they saw him stoop,

They saw me strangely bound along

His back with many a bloody thong :
They stop — they start — they snuff the air,
Gallop a moment here and there,
Approach, retire, wheel round and round,
Then plunging back with sudden -bound,
Headed by one black mighty steed,
Who seemed the patriarch of his breed,

Without a single speck or hair

Of white upon his shaggy hide ;
They snort — they foam — neigh — swerve aside,
And backward to the forest fly,
By instinct, from a human eye."

222 WOLF-HUNTING.

The remaining couple of hounds, still missing, were not heard
of until ten days afterwards, when St. Prix received information
from the gendarmes at Guingamp that a party of chasseurs,
woodcock-shooting in the vale of the Frieux, in a forest formerly
belonging to the Dues de Penthievre, had met with an old dog-
wolf, so beaten and distressed by long travel that, with a charge
or two of small shot, they toppled him over and brought his
course to an end without any difficulty. This had scarcely been
accomplished, when the tongue of hounds was heard at no great
distance; and as the cry approached nearer and nearer, the
chasseurs perceived a couple only of strange hounds, toil-stricken
and leg-weary, but still struggling on and clinging to the line of
scent, as if determined at all cost to gain their blood. On
coming up to their prey, now powerless and gasping for life,
they could do little more than fall upon the carcase and there
lie, apparently well satisfied with the result, but utterly unable
from exhaustion to worry the dying brute or throw out a single
note in token of victory. The chasseurs found no difficulty in
securing the hounds, which, after discovering from the Louvetier
to whom they belonged, were forwarded to M. Kergoorlas's
kennels on the Loire, none the worse for their long and
adventurous chase.

It may here be remarked that the practice of rounding the
ears and branding the sides of hounds is, so far as I know, never
followed in Lower Jkittany j but although it would be a great pity
to mutilate the long, silky, pendulous ear of the native hound, and
damage the appearance of his grand head, it must be owned he
would find great advantage from the process in the unceasing
cover-work to which he is subjected. As to the use of the
side-brand, in no country would the plan be more useful, for an
old dog-wolf, as just recorded, will often break country and go
straight away to a far distant forest, making light of twelve and
even fifteen leagues with the view of shaking off his pursuers —

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 223

a strategic manoeuvre in which he is too often successful — on such
occasions, from the frequency of deep valleys, roadless forests,
and impracticable fences, which are like Devonshire banks, but
far bigger ; the most determined horseman soon finds himself
nowhere, the piqueurs are left miles behind, and the hounds
eventually throw up in a strange country without the power, if
they have the instinct, to return to their own kennel. If, there-
fore, the plan of branding hounds with the initial letter of the
owner's surname be found so useful in England, a fortiori would
it be so in Lower Brittany.

Some five-and-twenty years ago I was riding to cover in
company with Mr. J. Russell and sixteen couple of the N.D.H.,
when looking over a young hound, recently sent to him from a
distant kennel, he discovered him to be unbranded. " This
won't do," said he ; " we hunt to-day in a wild, woodland
country, and if we lose that hound, we shall never see him
again." Then instantly dismounting and handing his horse's
rein to me, he drew a small scissors from his pocket-book, took
the hound between his knees, and in a twinkling cut out a great
R in the hair on the animal's ribs. " There, Frank, no matter
where he turns up now ; he'll be sent back to my kennel for
fifty miles round." So spake Russell, of all living houndsmen
certainly one of the most experienced and most practical.

During our absence at Gourin, an Englishman had arrived
at Carhaix and taken up his quarters at an old-fashioned house,
exactly opposite the Hotel La Tour d'Auvergne ; and, as our
garrulous and good-natured host, Marseillier, made a point of
ferreting out the business of every stranger who sojourned for a
night or two at his own or a neighbour's house, he was not long
in informing us that the gentleman was called "Johnson," that his
object was the chasse, and that, with M. de St. Prix's permission,
he hoped to be allowed to join the wolf-hounds while they hunted
in that part of the country. Now, ubiquitous as Englishmen are

224 WOLF-HUNTING.

said to be, they but rarely find their way to the uncommercial
and remote little town of Carhaix ; and when they do, the hotel,
with its ready restaurant and appliances, is usually preferred
to the pennyworth-of-pepper style of housekeeping entailed by
private lodgings. The intention of making Carhaix his residence
for a lengthened period was at once supposed by Marseillier to
be the ground for Mr. Johnson's exceptional choice ; and as, in
that case, in all probability he would still become a daily demt-
pensionnaire at the hotel, and [a compagnon de chasse for himself,
the wily host lost no time in persuading St. Prix to send him a
polite invitation to join the wolf-hunt fixed for Locrist on the
following Tuesday.

Some hours elapsed ere an answer was returned by Johnson,
but at length it came, written fluently in Jersey-French, and
expressing his gratitude in terms so extra-deferential, that St. Prix
could not forbear shrugging his shoulders as he read it ; as if
there was something beyond his comprehension, something very
unlike the independent manner of an English gentleman in the
whole style of the note. A suspicion, like an electric spark, then
flashed across the Louvetier's mind that it was not all above-board
with this new comer, and that he himself had acted somewhat
incautiously in adopting the course recommended by Marseillier.
However, the thing was done ; and if the stranger, thus invited,
had proved to be a convict escaped from the galleys, St. Prix
would not have revoked his invitation for that day's hunt.

" Whoever he may be," said Keryfan, perusing the note with
the shrewdness of an expert, " if there is anything wrong about
the man, he is already half-trapped by entering that house.
Masson, the proprietor, is well known to be a Government spy;
and, depend upon it, from mere habit, every movement of his
guest, nay, every letter he writes or receives, will be subjected
to the closest surveillance."

" Then I think," said St. Prix, " if he is in such good hands,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 225

we need not trouble ourselves with what, after all, may be nothing
more than a groundless suspicion."

The subject then dropped, nor was anything seen of the
mysterious stranger until the Tuesday morning ; when, just as we
were finishing an early breakfast, the hounds having gone on to
Locrist an hour before, Marseillier rushed into our salle-a-manger,
and, with an ill-suppressed grin on his countenance, announced
M. Johnson as being in attendance at the hotel door, vttu a la
cavaliere, and purposing to ride on with us to the cover-side.
" But," said Marseiller, bursting into a fit of the wildest merri-
ment, "he is mounted on butcher Kenwyn's 'Lunatique/ a horse
that no man in Carhaix could ever sit beyond the first cross-road
outside the town. See him in the butcher's charrette, and you'd
consider him perfection • but he'll plunge and kick his hind shoes
off rather than carry a saddle one kilometre."

" Then I fear," said Keryfan, " we shall not have the pleasure
of his company as far as Locrist. But how on earth could
Kenwyn venture to lend such a horse to a stranger?"

" For three francs he'd lend him his wife," replied the host.
" Kenwyn is not particular when money stares him in the face ;
besides, he says that horse has shown him more sport by kicking
off his riders than he ever saw at &Je,ux du Cirque'''

I did not half relish this - last remark, and began to feel
somewhat indignant at the prospect of seeing my compatriot
thus turned into a laughing-stock, and probably maltreated, simply
to satisfy the greed and humour of this Breton butcher; so I
determined to rise at once from the table, and give Mr. Johnson
a timely hint as to the vicious character of the horse he had
hired for the day. But before I could effect my purpose the
conversation continued j and Keryfan remarked that " it would
be a sorry joke for the butcher if the rider's neck should be
broken by his notoriously wicked horse."

"Not a bit of it," said Marseillier, evidently bent himself on

226 WOLF-HUNTING.

seeing the fun. " Kenwyn has fully informed M. Johnson of the
horse's tricks ; and the only answer he made was, ' I should like
to see him try them on with me, that's all.' So now, if his neck
is broken, it will be clearly his business, not Kenwyn's."

At that instant St. Prix's drag rattled up to the doors of the
hotel, and a general move taking place, we were quickly brought
face to face with Mr. Johnson, who for the last five minutes had
become the subject of some curiosity to all of us. There was
the man, then, seated low in his saddle, apparently as uncon-
cerned and as much at home as if he had been mounted on one
of old Tilbury's park hacks, instead of a brute whose eye was as
wicked as Waterton's cayman. His hunting attire, however, was
simply awful : top-boots and yellowish cord breeches, a green coat
with basket buttons, a red waistcoat and a bright blue bird's-eye
throat-lash, with a black velvet cap above all, encased his body
in a medley of colours, strangely inharmonious ; nevertheless,
with that love of parti-coloured paraphernalia which, in their
hunting costume, is not unfrequently exhibited by our neighbours,
his "get-up" appeared to attract unbounded admiration among
the crowd of Bretons now gathering around him on every side.

"Where on earth does the fellow come from? and what can
he be ? " inquired Shafto, half indignant that so questionable a
specimen of his countrymen should be described as an English
gentleman. " He looks as if he had escaped from Portland or
some other convict establishment."

The man's countenance, however, had more of the knave
than the ruffian in it, with something about the glint of his eye,
expressive at once of broad humour and intense cunning. I was
so attracted at first by his extraordinary costume that for some
moments I did not observe his face ; but when at length I looked
up and caught his eye, and then heard him address St. Prix in
that broad franc-patois peculiar to Jersey, I immediately recog-
nised the individual as a livery-stable keeper, with whom I had

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 227

had occasional dealings during my sojourn in that island. He,
too, recognised me, and lost no time in making the fact known
by asking how a bay horse had turned out that he had sold me
the last time I had visited his stables. " I have come to this
country," he said, "to attend some horse-fairs at Rostrenan,
Chateaulin, and Morlaix ; and, with a bit of luck, I hope to
pick up a string of useful cobs that will sell well at Southampton ;
for, that's my market now, not St. Hellier's, where a lot of fellows
have congregated who can't afford to pay for a pint of
shrimps."

During this short conversation he was busily employed in
rolling a huge horse-rug together and fastening it across the
pommel of the saddle and in front of his knees, by way of a
stay ; the butcher standing at the horse's head, holding the bridle
tightly with one hand and smoothing down his nose with the
other, to keep the brute quiet, if possible, during the operation.

"Your friend seems to know what he's about," said Shafto.
" That rug-roll, strapped in front, is the very dodge adopted in
Australia, when a young ' bucker ' is hampered and mounted for
the first time ; and I begin to think ' Lunatique } has found his
master in that rider."

St. Prix's drag was now under weigh ; and the clatter of hoofs
and the crack of the whip seemed to electrify "Lunatique" in one
instant. He reared twice on end, but Johnson dropped his
bridle-hand, and, throwing his weight on the brute's neck,
frustrated the back-fall that appeared to be imminent ; he then
made a succession of plunges, bucking on all fours into the air
and coming down with his nose to the ground. But with all
these frantic efforts, there sat the undisturbed Johnson, fast and
firm, as if he had been glued to his saddle. A sharp, stinging
cut with his heavy jockey-whip, then another and another over
the off-flank, brought the brute at once into progressive action,
and in five minutes afterwards he was cantering along, in the

228 WOLF-HUNTING.

wake of our drag, as smoothly and submissively as a lady's pet
palfrey.

This victory, so rapidly achieved and so decisive, brought
Johnson into immediate favour with our Breton chasseurs, whose
praise of him as a "bon cavalier" was unbounded. But the
further adventures of this hero, as well as the sport at Locrist,
must be told in the next chapter.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 229

CHAPTER XX.

NOTWITHSTANDING the signal victory obtained by the Jersey
horse-dealer over "Lunatique," the faith of his owner, butcher
Kenwyn, in the inherent vice of the animal continued firm as
ever; and under the conviction that another fight would ensue,
and then probably with a different result, at the cross-roads near
St. Katherine, he and many of the Carhaix people struggled after
us for more than a league out of the town. The butcher, how-
ever, did not enjoy his expected grin, for up to that point, and
beyond the bridge, Johnson and the " Lunatique " were still
trotting after the drag, and seemed inclined to pursue the even
tenor of their way amicably together for the rest of the day.
They were then lost to sight by the butcher and his friends, who,
on their return to Carhaix, expressed their chagrin in no measured
terms at the facility with which the horse had been mastered and
their sport marred, by the courage and skill of M. Johnson.

But there was another and a better reason for butcher
Kenwyn's disappointment. Relying fully on the vicious habit
of the horse, he had agreed to sell him for a lower sum than
his intrinsic value, provided that on trial in the saddle the
animal gave satisfaction ; and that he was now likely to do so,
being a rare stepper, and only five years old, made him all but
crazy at the prospect of losing so serviceable a beast. However,
the day was not yet over ; and if, smarting keenly under a sense

23o WOLF-HUNTING.

of the imprudent bargain to which he had committed himself,
Kenwyn still cherished a hope that the horse-dealer would be
brought home on a hurdle rather than on " Lunatique's " back,
I do not describe, according to Marseillier, the injured pride and
vexation of the man a whit too strongly.

Locrist, the fixture at which the hounds were appointed to
meet, is, as I have before said, a small hamlet consisting of two
cottages and an old water-mill, snugly situated in a valley which,
from its beautiful trout-stream and dark hanging woods, is one of
the wildest and most picturesque spots in Brittany. It is scarcely
more than two leagues from Carhaix ; and as the covers abound
with woodcock, and the river in hard weather with teal and wild-
duck, the visits of the town braconniers — men who get their
livelihood solely by the chasse — were by no means unfrequently
paid, as may be supposed, to that locality. On the present
occasion it was quickly discovered by Louis Trefarreg that on
the previous day a couple of braconniers had drawn every cover
in the valley; and, as woodcock were then numerous, had kept
up a continuous fusillade at that and other game from morning
to night. Our old friend Kledan Kam, too, in spite of his recent
wound, had sallied forth with his musket and profited largely by
the toil of the men and their dogs on the opposite side of the
valley ; and although he with difficulty managed to hobble along
on a stick, many a cock and a red-leg fell victims to this crafty
dodge of the lame " Lion."

Now a fox, in a wild country, is a very wild animal, and
speedily takes the hint to be off, if the seclusion in which he
lives is intruded upon by an unwelcome visitor; but far more
vigilant and suspicious of danger is the cowardly wolf, especially
if by daylight the sound of man's voice and the report of fire-
arms ring on his ears : wide is the berth he then gives to that
hated locality, nor will he return for many a long day to it, even
though it be his old haunt and the strongest cover in the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 231

neighbourhood. So when the trusty piqueur Trefarreg communi-
cated the aforesaid information to St. Prix, that bright, hopeful
look that usually illumined the Louvetier's countenance when
about to draw a favourite cover, assumed a gloomy, portentous
hue, and fell suddenly like the mercury in a barometer before a
thunder-storm. Then the cloud burst. " It's no use whatever,"
he said angrily, " to waste our time in this valley \ as well may
we expect to find a wolf in Marseillier's cabbage-garden as in
these disturbed covers. What with gunners and wolf-traps, my
hounds shall never come near the place again."

It will be remembered that, on a former visit to Locrist, a
favourite pointer of M. de Kergoorlas's had been caught in the
jaws of a huge wolf-gin, and that it had been found necessary to
destroy the animal on the spot — a catastrophe M. de St. Prix was
not likely to forget for the remainder of his life. Holding the
appointment of Louvetier — a post expressly designed for the
destruction, not the preservation, of wolves — he yet held that to
hunt the animal with hound and horn was the only legitimate
mode of killing the brute ; and he was just as tenacious of his
official rights and interests as any M.F.H. in Great Britain could
be. A steel-gin was his horror, not solely because he begrudged
the summary destruction of a wolf, and the occasional curtailment
of sport thereby, but because many a good hound of his had been
entrapped in its fatal jaws.

Kledan Kam did well to keep out of the way on the present
occasion ; for, suspected as he had been in the matter of the gin,
and having aided on the previous day in disturbing the whole
valley of Locrist, although the intended meet of the wolf-hounds
had been made known to him, he certainly would have found
himself in the position of a lightning-conductor, on which the
fulminations of the Louvetier would have descended with fearful
force had he not thus adopted the discreet course of avoiding the
shock.

232 WOLF-HUNTING.

To a remonstrance of Shafto's that, being on the spot, he
might as well draw Locrist, as it lay directly in the line for
Hengoet, the next great cover beyond this valley, St. Prix
reluctantly gave way, remarking, with no little acerbity, that it
would be too surely time and labour thrown away, and that the
disappointment caused by a blank must rest on his shoulders.
Then followed the usual animated palaver as to the best mode of
drawing the line of covers, and the contingencies likely to result
therefrom ; so that, before Louis Trefarreg had received his final
orders to uncouple the tufters, a good half-hour had been wasted
in preliminary talk. This custom of our continental neighbours
is, of all others, the most tiresome, for, no matter how urgent the
need of despatch, nor how fierce and inclement the elements may
be, the palaver must take place ; and if, at such a time, a party of
Indian chiefs (who, when assembled to discuss any important
subject, are remarkable for their quiet bearing and dignified
demeanour) could only witness the impulsive gesticulation and
lively language of our civilised friends, they would conclude
them to be little better than a set of lunatics. Wide as the gulf
is between the noblesse and the peasantry of Lower Brittany, still
the doctrine of equality and free speech is universally established
even in this stronghold of the ancien regime, and peasants as-
well as peers will have their say at the cover-side. Consequently,,
although the object of the palaver is a reasonable one — it being
intended to secure concerted action in the sylvan war — the Babel
of talkers suggesting various plans, and each asserting his own
plan to be the right one, renders it sometimes no easy task for
the commanding officer to decide on the tactics he had best
adopt.

Three couple of the staunchest wolf-tufters (and among them
were some rare, deep-drawing hounds) were then uncoupled on
each side of the valley, and every acre of gorse, broom, and
woodland was steadily drawn, up to the table-land between it

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 233

and Hengoet, but, as already anticipated, without any satisfactory
result. Not a hound spoke, nor did there appear to be a whiff
left of even a stale scent. More than one fox, however, was
viewed, crossing the narrow green meadow from one side of the
valley to the other, and inducing a wild shout of " Ah'r louarn !
Ah'r louarn ! " from some unruly peasants ; but the hounds were
steady, and held on heedless of riot.

During this long and very tedious process, St. Prix's patience,
none of the most enduring, became fairly exhausted; and,
denouncing the braconniers of Carhaix and Kledan Kam as the
sole cause of the blank, he vowed it should be many a long day
before he visited the valley of Locrist again with his hounds.
" If they will mar our sport thus wilfully," he said, " let them
take the consequences. The wolves shall teach them a lesson
they will not soon forget."

We had now reached — hounds, horses, and men — a point of
the table-land where the main road between Callac and Rostrenen
intersects a narrow cross-country road leading direct to Carhaix.
It is a wild, lonely district, bristling with granite rocks and endless
broom, and is, by its sparse population, almost wholly unculti-
vated ; so what the poverty-stricken peasants, who are born and
bred in this desert, can find to live upon, is a problem I will not
pretend to solve. There are trout, it is true, in the brooks, and
a certain amount of game in the covers ; but of this the wolf
gets the lion's share, and the others are [only to be caught in the
summer season.

Up to this point Johnson and the "Lunatique" had been
travelling together apparently in perfect accord one with the
other ; the former indulging in quaint and facetious reflections
on the tailors of Carhaix and the butcher's ignorance of horse-
flesh, while he congratulated himself on the prospect of purchasing
so valuable an animal on such easy terms. But he was whistling,
as it soon proved, before he was clear of the wood : the Ides of

234 WOLF-HUNTING.

March were not yet over, and a desperate struggle awaited the
horse-dealer in that narrow cross-road leading direct to Carhaix.

" Forward to Hengoet !" said St. Prix to his chief piqueur, in
a curt and decisive tone. " It is now past mid-day, and we have
two long leagues before us ere we reach the outskirts of that
forest."

Louis Trefarreg's knowledge of the Louvetier's temper did
not encourage him at that moment to suggest any difficulty — a
practice to which, from his long experience with hounds, thorough
knowledge of the country, and, above all, his acquaintance with
the habits of the wild animals he hunted, he was somewhat too
prone. He now, however, most prudently said nothing, but at
once accepting the order, dashed off, hounds and all, towards
Hengoet, taking the Rostrenen road in that direction. Close in
his wake followed the field of chasseurs, peasants, piqueurs, and
cavaliers — all save one, our facetious friend, the parti-coloured
Johnson, whose horse, having no fancy for the Rostrenen route,
and preferring much the one leading straight to his stable, had
suddenly become a fixture. At first the dealer did what he could
to coax the beast forward by gentle measures, stroking and patting
his neck, and talking to him in the mildest of tones ; but by such
means he might as well have hoped to move an equestrian statue
into action. Not a leg did he stir ; but he cropped both ears
close back viciously, while the white of his wicked eye indicated
a temper ripe for a row.

Keryfan and myself dropped instantly back, hoping, by the
example of our willing steeds, to induce the "Lunatique" to follow
them towards Rostrenen. But not a bit of it ; his head was
turned towards Carhaix, and if not permitted to travel in that
direction, not a yard would he go on the Rostrenen road. But
the man on his back had a firm seat and a resolute will ; and,
finding gentle treatment of no avail, he brought down his heavy
whip with a whack that sounded like a pistol-shot on the horse's

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 235

back ribs. Then the fight began. Up went the beast on all-fours,
bucking into the air as high as a five-barred gate several times
in rapid succession ; and ever, as he touched the earth, again
plunging forward, as if impelled by a catapult. The man sat,
like a Centaur, incorporate with his horse ; and if his- knees had
been rivetted to the saddle, he could scarcely have gripped it
with a firmer hold. Nor did his right hand cease its work for
one moment ; down came the stinging cuts on rib, flank, and
thigh, half-a-dozen for every plunge, and leaving a weal big as a
man's finger after every cut.

For ten long minutes did this fierce struggle last, when the
horse, apparently exhausted by his frantic efforts to unseat the
rider, reared straight on end, and, coming heavily backward, he
fell prostrate, and there lay, not a kick left in him, beaten,
dispirited, and groaning on the ground. With the agility of a
mountebank had Johnson quitted his seat at the right moment,
and, throwing himself off, had rolled through the wet, slushy
soil, clear of all danger. He was on his legs, however, in another
second, but not before he had been so plastered with mud that
every article of his dress, lately so gay and varied in hue, was
transformed, instanter, into one sombre colour — that of a mud-
casing — from head to foot. Never was a metamorphosis more
complete ; never a proud horseman more rapidly converted into
the form of a grimy brick-burner ! Proteus himself might have
envied the feat, but for the ugly fall. The consequence of this,
however, was merely external, namely, the disfigurement of his
person and the damage of his dress. Having long been accus-
tomed to hunt with the Hambledon Hounds, and usually mounted
on raw horses, Johnson was well versed in the art of falling, and
knew well how and when to quit his seat when his horse was in
a difficulty — a secret not sufficiently studied by men in general ;
hence his escape on the present occasion, with neither a broken
limb nor even a bruised body.

236 WOLF-HUNTING.

My first impulse, I confess, was to burst out laughing at the
strange aspect he had so suddenly assumed ; but on second and
better thoughts the inhumanity of doing so occurred to my mind,
and I rushed up with the view of rendering him all the assistance
his situation might require. Keryfan, too, did the same, with an
unusually grave demeanour ; but before we had fairly ranged
alongside him, the horse-dealer had drawn a long clasp-knife out
of his breeches-pocket, and was coolly proceeding to scrape the
mud from his face and clothes, just as he would have applied an
iron hoop to a horse's belly in his own stable-yard.

" Not hurt, I hope ? " inquired Keryfan and myself simulta-
neously, as we reined up our horses close to where he stood.

"No damage done, gentlemen, except to my body-clothes.
They were all new last week; and now Samuel Brothers, who
supplied the rig, would not know a garment of them again, I'm
blessed if they would."

" Oh, if that's all, they'll be all right again, and all the better,
perhaps, for the seasoning," I replied, being somewhat surprised
at finding the man took more thought of the adornment than the
safety of his body.

" You think so, do you ? " he answered curtly, now scraping
away at his waistcoat, and bringing out its original scarlet hue,
though in a sadly subdued form. "A spoke-brush and ten
buckets of water wouldn't do it ; at least, that's my opinion."

During this process and conversation the horse lay embedded
in the mire, still as a log, and apparently utterly cowed by the
rough treatment to which he had been subjected ; nor, while he
was busied in removing the soil from his person, did Johnson
vouchsafe even a look at the animal that had brought him into
so woful a plight. But that being accomplished, so far as his
knife could do it, he lighted a cigar, and, taking the curb-rein in
hand, he dealt the horse a tremendous kick in the ribs, shouting
at him to "get up," and bringing the curb to bear sharply on

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 237

liis jaw at the same moment. The poor brute, however, never
attempted to rise, but, in response to the blow, gave one or two
audible sobs. The dejection, too, expressed by his eye seemed
to say he would rather die on the spot than carry his hard task-
master another yard. But the horse-dealer had handled in his
time many such customers — "devils at first, and dunghills
afterwards," as he described them ; so, instead of manifesting
any concern at the refusal of the horse to rise, he proceeded
•deliberately to gather large handfuls of dry grass and fern, which,
placed under his tail, and set on fire, " would," he said, " bring
him on his legs in a twinkling."

Both Keryfan and myself, however, at once interposed, and
declared we would not stand by and see a dumb animal so cruelly
treated, and that he must adopt some plan less torturing than
that of fire to get the horse on his legs again. A gleam of fierce
defiance instantly flashed from the horse-dealer's eyes, and, from
the attitude he assumed, buttoning up his coat, squaring his
elbows, and doubling his spare fist (for he still held his big
iron-headed whip in the other hand), I fully expected he would
attack us both, there and then, rather than be thwarted in the
savage purpose on which he was bent. Notwithstanding this
menace, however, Keryfan stepped forward, and with his heel
stamped into the wet mire the heap of grass collected by the
ruffian — an act that seemed to convince him at once that we,
too, were disposed to be as resolute as he was — and perhaps the
rapid calculation that two to one were awkward odds for that one
to encounter had an electric effect in causing him to change his
tactics, and, instead of a warlike attitude, to assume the air of a
man whose right to do as he liked with his own had been grossly
outraged. At all events, discretion stepped in opportunely, and
instead of doing battle with his fists, he satisfied himself by doing
it vigorously with his tongue.

"Who's going to pay for this horse, then?" he inquired

238 WOLF-HUNTING.

sarcastically. " Not I, let me tell you ; not one sous. He's a
dead horse, he is, if he lies there till he grows chilled and gets
inflammation, that's certain. And you'll pay for him, of course,
if you won't suffer me to save his life by getting him, as I best
can, out of this mire."

The poor beast's nose was now resting on the edge of a rut,
while his belly was deeply imbedded in the watery slush ; so, as
there was doubtless some truth in the horse-dealer's argument, I
endeavoured to appease his wrath by a soft answer, telling him
that, short of fire, we were quite ready to give him all the help
in our power ; and that, if he would make another effort, I would
handle the bridle, while Keryfan or he cracked him up about the
quarters with my hunting-thong.

To this he assented, but evidently against his inclination ;
and as he puffed away briskly at his cigar, he continued his evil
vaticination — " He's a dead horse, I tell you, if he lies here
much longer ; and there's nothing will move him but fire ; that
I know."

I then took both reins over the animal's head, and, patting
him gently on the neck, I fancied I could discern a slight
improvement in the sad expression of his eye ; and while Keryfan
proceeded to touch him up with his thong, the horse-dealer
gripped him by the root of the tail, and endeavoured to lift his
quarters, or pretended to do so, clear of the mire. In an instant
the beast sprung upon his legs, and before I could scramble out
of his way, he almost jumped on top of me ; he then set to
kicking furiously, clipping his tail close between his legs, and
looking like a horse driven mad by rage or pain.

We did not know it then, but shortly afterwards it oozed out
that the burning end of his cigar — the actual cautery — had been
insidiously applied to the tenderest part of the poor brute's
quarters. Exquisite torture was, of course, inflicted thereby, and
hence his frantic action the moment he was on his legs. This,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 239

however, when the pain had somewhat subsided, did not deter
Johnson from again closing with his victim, and vaulting on his
back, like a tiger springing on his prey. There was a ferocity
now in his expression that I had not before observed, a vindictive,
pitiless look, that seemed to say he'd cut him to ribbons if the
beast again proved refractory.

Happily, however, we were spared a further exhibition of
brutality. The animal, now fairly subdued, walked quietly away
in the direction of Rostrenen ; Johnson, too, soon regained his
natural vivacity, indulging in stable slang, and boasting that he
should be able to guide the " Lunatique " with a packthread for
the rest of his life.

After this exciting episode on the highway, we did not
overtake the hounds before they had reached Hengoet. St. Prix
had already thrown his tufters into cover, and the occasional
deep-sounding note of more than one pioneer gave token of a
night-scent, not very fresh, but still improving, as the hounds
advanced into the hollow glen.

" This is a travelling wolf," observed the Louvetier, " probably
disturbed from Locrist ; and if so, the drag, I fear, will be a long
affair, and may lead us far beyond this cover ere we come up to-
the wanderer's lair."

I had just looked at my watch ; and finding the time to be
2.55 P.M., and the glen below looking dark as the jaws of Erebusy
I wondered how long and how far he would encourage his hounds
to carry the drag, if they failed to rouse the wild beast in this
grand forest, the distant boundary of which appeared to be at
least a league away; so I ventured to inquire the name and
distance of the next cover, if this should prove a blank.

"The stronghold of Dualt," said St. Prix, "lies about two-
leagues off; and this wolf being, as I suspect, an old skulker,
it is more than probable he has passed on and sought the rocky
fastnesses of that vast cover. In that case, the hounds will be

240 WOLF-HUNTING.

encouraged to hold the line of drag to within a short distance
of Dualt, then stopped, and taken to Callac for the night. At
break of day we shall be at him again (for Callac is on the
outskirts of the forest), and then, I trust, we shall get on better
terms with this wary customer."

"A pleasant programme enough," I rejoined, " provided the
necessary accommodation can be found for your hounds and
horses in that primitive little town. Of course you will return to
Carhaix for the night ? "

" By no means," said the Louvetier. " M. Thomas's hotel
has ample accommodation for all ; and as it is so conveniently
near the forest, it will save us ten leagues of road work if we rest
there instead of returning to Carhaix."

" That is, doubtless, an important consideration," I replied ;
and not wishing to appear fastidious about my own personal
comforts, when he and others were so ready to rough it for the
sake of hunting, I expressed a cordial approval of the plan,
though I confess sundry misgivings rose to my mind at the
prospect of roosting for the night at a way-side tavern, without
a rag of change, or even a tooth-brush to aid one's ablutions.

An occasional double note from the furthermost depths of
Hengoet still reached our ears, proving the good hounds were
clinging to the drag, though unable, except at intervals, to give
hopeful tidings of the foe ahead. The Louvetier's expectations
of a blank day were evidently about to be realised ; and although
such an event was fortunately one of rare occurrence in this
country, it was not the less likely to chafe the temper of a man
so sanguine and so fiery as he was. We were now threading
our way, in Indian file, through a vast broom-field that skirted
the cover for a league or more, when one of the piqueurs,
advancing to meet us, informed St. Prix that he had tracked a
couple of old wolves, apparently in company, to the far end of
the valley ; that the track-prints were clear of the cover, and, so

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 241

far as he could judge, pointing directly for Dualt ; moreover, that
he was quite certain one of the wolves had but three legs, or at
all events, carried one which apparently was of no use to it.

The Louvetier, on hearing this, at once sounded his horn,
and, pricking forward briskly, clapped the whole body of his
pack on the line indicated by the piqueur ; but, well marked as
the tracks were, it was only here and there that some fine-nosed
hound, giving an extra lash with his stern, was able to throw his
tongue on the ail-but extinguished scent. The tufters, however,
were not far astern, and, as soon as they came up, matters
mended a little ; but still the cry, as patiently and perseveringly
those skilled pioneers picked up the scent, making a hit here
and a hit there, over the wild, rocky waste between Hengoet
and Dualt, would have given Kergoorlas the ear-ache, so cheerless
was it up to the very edge of the latter forest. There, as the sun
went down, the Louvetier stopped the pack, when all, with the
exception of Johnson, turned their horses' heads direct for Callac,
he and the " Lunatique," now apparently sobered and submissive,
returning alone to Carhaix. Thus ended a blank day — the only
one I was doomed to see in company with St. Prix's hounds.

242 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER XXL

HAVING sojourned, as already stated, for two seasons in the least-
frequented and remotest towns of Lower Brittany, mainly for the
sake of the wild sport obtainable in that country, my acquaintance
with the hotels, of which there is at least one more pretentious
than the rest in every small town, became almost as extensive as
that of any Commis-voyagcur, hailing from Brest or some other
neighbouring seaport. At M. Thomas' I had frequently halted
for the night ; and, well knowing the extent of his bed-room
accommodation, it puzzled me not a little to imagine how he
could possibly contrive to stow us all comfortably away, as
St. Prix declared he was able to do, within the limits of his
narrow domain. Besides our own party, consisting of Keryfan,
Shafto, the Louvetier, and myself, four other gentlemen had
joined us, not one of whom had the slightest intention of
returning to his home till ,the hounds were taken back to their
kennels near Morlaix. Three bed-apartments comprised the
total amount of stowage-room available for night guests ; and
although a couple of small bedsteads, the furniture of which
was clean and white as the driven snow, stood confronting one
another in each chamber, two more were still wanting to supply
the needful accommodation for all the party.

While this difficulty was under discussion, M. Thomas stepped
forward and proposed a solution of it that, at all events, did

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 243

him infinite credit as an obliging, if not a disinterested, host : he
proposed that Madame Thomas and he should vacate their own
apartment and occupy a room on the ground-floor. Now, on
the Continent, especially among the French and Germans, the
rez-de-chaussee, under the impression of its unhealthiness during
the night-season, is usually occupied only by those whose circum-
stances compel them to sleep below stairs. This offer was at
once accepted, though, in order to show his full appreciation of
the sacrifice which the worthy couple were so ready to make,
St. Prix made as many apologies to Madame Thomas for
dispossessing her as if he were addressing the first duchess of
the land. I discovered afterwards that the " room on the ground-
floor" was no other than the kitchen, and their sleeping quarters
a hole in the wall, some six feet above the floor of the apartment
— a recess originally intended for the batter ie-de-cuisine, but now
converted into a dormitory, not unlike in the form of its
excavation to one of those loculi, in which a couple of skeletons
may be seen reposing side by side, sleeping the long sleep of
death, in some Italian catacomb. But Thomas and his spouse
were anything but skeletons ; and how on earth the outside
sleeping partner contrived to hold his or her own in such narrow
quarters, without tumbling overboard, will remain a mystery to
me to the end of the chapter.

This arrangement, however inconvenient to them, not only
gave our party the needful accommodation, but also insured the
early rising of the host and hostess — an important result, seeing
that he performed the office of cook and she of waiting-maid
to the establishment, and this, too, with an efficiency I have
rarely seen equalled. Accordingly, before the peep of day, a sub-
stantial breakfast of mutton cutlets, omelets cooked to a second,
and hot coffee smoked upon the board; and even Keryfan,
who had been considerably disconcerted by the absence of his
usual toilet accompaniments, was ready to endorse St. Prix's

244 WOLF-HUNTING.

character of the hostelry, and declare that, modest as were its
pretensions, he had met here with better fare and less discomfort
than in many of the larger hotels in Brittany.

The hour of seven had just been announced by the old-
fashioned clock in the salle-a-manger, and our meal so far
dispatched that on every side pipes were being lighted and
horns slung, in the immediate prospect of a start for Dualt, when
Louis Trefarreg, entering the apartment, brought the startling'
intelligence that a carrion horse, killed for the hounds on the
previous day, and lying within twenty yards of the kennel door,
had been devoured by wolves in the night, and that nothing but
the bones of the beast remained to tell the tale.

" I wondered," said the piqueur, " to hear the hounds baying
so wildly in the dead of night, and more than once was tempted
to rise and find out the cause of the disturbance. Had I done
so, I might have saved the flesh and restored peace to the
kennel."

"Aye, and the hounds would have been all the fresher for
their day's work," said the Louvetier, greatly excited by these
tidings.

" Quite true," answered the wily piqueur ; " but still the
wolves, having had time to gorge the whole of the carrion, will
find themselves heavily weighted when the chase grows hot ; and
this advantage, methinks, will strike a telling balance in favour of
the hounds."

" What's a half-starved Brittany pony among half-a-dozen
hungry wolves ? " responded the Louvetier ; " for there must have
been a pack of them, or they never would have ventured on so
daring an act of aggression during the present open weather."

" There were only a couple ; and what's more, I'll be sworn
they were the same we hunted yesterday through Hengoet; at
all events, the tracks were precisely similar: one was an old
dog-wolf, and the other a bitch going on three legs."

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 245

" Then we must kill them both, Louis," said the Louvetier,
" or that crippled wolf, unable as she now is to chase and catch
her wild prey, will turn her attention to domestic stock, and, with
the aid of her mate, will do more damage in a month than
half-a-dozen other wolves in a whole year."

" That's quite certain," said Shafto ; " just as a mangy old
-tiger betakes himself to villages and 'cantonments,' and be-
comes a man-eater, simply because from age and infirmity he
is no longer a match for the stately sambar or the swift Indian
antelope."

This information of the piqueur's rendered a change of tactics
at once necessary ; and instead of trotting them off to the forest
of Dualt, three couple of the steadiest old hounds were laid
directly on the hot drag within a hundred yards of the kennel
•door. Over the first fence they broke abreast, every hound
throwing his tongue and dashing into the adjoining genet, with
bristles up and in full cry. "Let them all go," shouted Shafto.
•" With such a scent they're not likely to change ; and the
stronger the pack the better head will they carry between this
and Dualt."

St. Prix either did not or would not hear him, for he instantly
gave Louis Trefarreg orders to make the best of his way to that
forest with the body of the pack, and to hold them in couples till
the signal was given for slipping the first relay. This, as it soon
•appeared, was sound advice, as, while the drag-hounds were
carrying the scent at a rattling pace through a thick gorsy cover,
•overhanging the brook on the south side of Callac, a fox and a
brace of roe-deer broke away in the very face of the hounds,
the scent of the latter being a temptation which none but the
staunchest old tufters are ever able to resist. But, strangely
enough, in addition to this chance of riot on view, the roe-deer
took exactly the same line with the wolves, broke the fences
exactly at the same spot, and finally entered Dualt within fifty

246 WOLF-HUNTING.

yards of the granite clitter over which the wolves had passed in
the gloom of that early morn.

Never could the sense of discrimination evinced by these
hounds have been better tested, nor the steadiness with which
they cleaved to the grosser game more admirably displayed. Not
for one instant did they appear perplexed by the double scent,
for whenever a divergence of the two lines occurred, the savage-
manner of the hounds and the angry tones in which they spoke,
indicated, as truly as the piqueur's tracking eye, the line taken by
the wolves. Then what a real hunting treat it was to see them,
when at fault, casting themselves to recover the scent, with heads
and bodies lowered to their work, how they twisted and turned
like snakes over the ground ; and then, the hound that caught
it, how he dashed ahead ! and what a struggle it created to catch
him again ! A neck-and-neck race between horses, be it on the
Downs of Epsom or the Curragh of Kildare, gives, to my mind,
but a faint and artificial picture of emulation, compared with the
ardour of hounds struggling for a lead on a scent they love.
With these, Nature is the jockey ; but with the other, steel and
whalebone are too often needed to bring their heads to the front
of the fray.

Happily, it was most of it open moorland between Callac and
the forest of Dualt, or, fairly mounted as we were, little should
we have seen of many an interesting passage in that rapid drag.
The pile of rocks was now gained, some of which, great granite
slabs, stood on end, like giants on guard, barring access to the
forest beyond ; while the mass lay recumbent, forming natural
cromlechs and dolmens of mighty size and grotesque shape.
Over these the hounds clambered without difficulty, in full swing
and melodious cry ; but for the horses to follow them was now
simply impracticable. A little detour, however, down-wind, in
which Keryfan undertook the pilotage, soon brought us within
ear-shot, though rarely within sight of the leaders of the chase —

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 247

ior all was now dense forest for miles — and, except in small
patches cleared by the charcoal-burners, or in the wider space
occupied by clumps of beech-trees that crowned the heights and
suffered no vegetation to flourish under their wide-spreading
shade, we could only, ever and anon, catch a glimpse of the
hounds forging ahead, but still on drag-scent.

At length the tone of the hounds changed, and a sharper, less
prolonged note, quickly doubled, and more hurrisome, set my
heart a-throbbing, like a sledge-hammer battering against my ribs.
At the same moment St. Prix, leaning forward over his saddle,
and with his ear turned in the direction of the hounds, had
thrown Barbe-bleu back on his haunches. " By St. Hubert ! "
he exclaimed, " that's a find ; and we need hold hard for a second
to hear which way they turn."

The old horse, too, seemed to understand, as well as his
master, the change in the hounds' tongue, for, like a war-horse
when he hears the trumpet sounding the charge, his ears were
pricked forward, his eyes dilated, and his very attitude appeared
to say, " That's the signal for strife ; and now the battle begins
in earnest."

So it did ; the game was roused, and coming directly, as the
cry indicated, for the clump of beech-trees under which we then
stood. St. Prix, on Barbe-bleu, holding his hand aloft to enjoin
silence, was motionless as Marcus Aurelius in the piazza of the
Capitol ! He scarcely seemed to breathe ! Nearer and nearer
came the cry ; and as every eye peered keenly into the various
short vistas formed by the beech-trees, suddenly, and transient
as an electric flash, a brace of wolves lopped across an open
space, and instantly disappeared in the dense cover, to which
they at once turned. The view was enough, however, to enable
us all to distinguish that one was a cripple and the other a
gaunt brute of unusual size. They, too, had seen us, for they
separated at once, like two scoundrels at the sight of the police,

248 WOLF-HUNTING.

the bigger villain quitting his partner at a tangent, and, in a
few strides, leaving her in the lurch, as if " the devil take the
hindmost " was the only thought uppermost in the brute's head.

"That's a lucky turn for us," said the Louvetier, trotting
rapidly forward, and clapping the tufters, as they streamed in
sight, close on the back of the crippled wolf. At the same time
(for as yet not a hound of the relay had beea uncoupled) he put
his horn to his lips, and sounded a lively signal for the first
batch ; but before these had time to catch us, the tufters had
driven the old harridan back to the rocks, and there brought
her to bay under a granite ledge that protected her on every
side, except in front, from the attack of her enemies.

Quick as thought St. Prix was out of his saddle, and Barbe
bleu made fast by his chain-halter to a convenient tree; but,
intent as he was on saving his hounds, and bounding, as he did,
like an ibex, from rock to rock, over chasms, fissures, and such-
like obstructions, he was unable to reach the ground in time to
save old Caesar from his usual fate. The brave old hound had
gone in alone at the formidable foe (the passage to the holt
being so narrow that it was impossible for more than one to
enter at a time), and in the desperate fight that ensued he had
come out savagely mangled about the head, which was literally
a mass of blood. Notwithstanding this punishment, however,
the very moment he caught sight of St. Prix springing to his
aid, he dashed in again without a scruple of fear • then, locked
together, jaw and jaw, the wolf and the hound renewed their
terrible struggle at the mouth of that narrow den. Two bull-dogs
never encountered each other with more fury ; the courage of the
hound, notwithstanding the immense superiority of the other in
point of weight, muscular power, and length of teeth, giving the
old hero a decided advantage over his cowardly foe.

At the risk of, at least, an odd rib or two in getting forward,
Keryfan and I were soon standing at St. Prix's side, and able to lend

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 249

him a hand as he dropped into the narrow arena occupied by the
•two combatants. The Louvetier's couteau never missed its mark j
and with one stroke the gaunt wolf, though grip and grip with
old Caesar, fell dead at his feet. The fore-arm of the brute, on
being measured just below the elbow, proved to be no less than
ten inches in circumference, while the canine teeth, or holders,
independent of that larger portion buried in the socket, were at
least an inch and a half in length ; so sharp and formidable were
they, and so powerful were the jaws of the brute, that it was quite
•a marvel how the hound escaped with his life.

Then commenced the funeral obsequies of sounding the mort
over the prostrate carcase, now raised to the surface and stretched
out at full length on a table-rock hard by; and although the
Louvetier knew perfectly well how important it was to get on
with all despatch after the other wolf, he would as soon have
omitted this ceremony as a Galway peasant would a "wake"
over the body of some departed friend. But there was another
business claiming the immediate attention of the Louvetier
besides sounding the mort; that business was the extrication of
old Caesar, who lay bleeding and disabled in the fore-leg at the
bottom of the fissure into which he had followed the retreating
foe. This, however, was a far more difficult matter than might
be imagined. The hound had a surly, savage nature of his own,
and at the best of times would not suffer anyone to handle him
save his master or Louis Trefarreg. The latter had not yet
reached the death scene ; and as the several blasts, sounded
both by Keryfan and St. Prix, had failed to produce him, no
other hand but that of the Louvetier could venture to tackle the
old warrior in his present condition. So, as time was precious,
St. Prix, running the thong of his whip through the keeper, and
descending into the pit, adjusted the loop gently and carefully
over the hound's head ; then twisting the thong securely round
the handle, which Keryfan and I grasped simultaneously from

250 WOLF-HUNTING.

above, we landed the hero alongside his mortal foe amid a roar
of growls that would have terrified a gladiator. The very
moment he caught sight of the company he was in, forgetting
his wounds, and by way of venting his ill-humour, he dashed at
the wolfs throat, and never relaxed his hold till St. Prix, after
wiping the blood from his face with a pocket-handkerchief,
commenced pouring some brandy into the gashes with which
his head was seamed. The torture inflicted by this treatment
made him let go at once ; and then came another roar, angry
and fierce as that of Cerberus when Hercules rescued Alceste
from Pluto's dread domain. But it was of short duration, that
roar of agony : a few gentle words from the Louvetier seemed to-
satisfy the sagacious old hound that it was all done for his good :
and, lifting his head, he licked his master's hand with a touching
air of gratitude and affection.

While St. Prix still persevered in sounding the mort — for
neither Louis Trefarreg, nor Shafto, nor the other chasseurs had
as yet answered the signal, nor had a hound of the relay reached
the rocks —it became evident that something must have occurred
to take them in an opposite direction, and that, too, beyond the
reach of the Louvetier's horn.

" And still he blew a louder blast,
And gave a lustier cheer; "

but echo alone answered the prolonged notes, and even they,
growing fainter and fainter, soon ceased to disturb the silence of
that lone forest for many a rood round.

" I see plainly what has happened," said St. Prix, boiling over
with impatience, and weaty of delay. " The hounds have crossed
the line of the dog-wolf, and gone away with him nobody knows
where."

" Except those lucky fellows, Louis and the rest of them, who
are now enjoying their turn of luck, as we have had ours," said

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 251

Keryfan, affecting to hide the keen disappointment he felt at being
shut out of a run that bid fair to be the one of the season.

" Killing a three-legged wolf may be of service to the com-
munity, Keryfan ; but it has been sorry sport for ourselves, I
confess," said the Louvetier. " Our friend Frank, too, knows so
well what a flying fox is, that I should like him to see, ere he
quits Brittany, what a flying wolf can do, when he sets his neck
straight and goes for a cover in some far distant land."

" Let's be up and after them," I said in response. " Our
horses are fresh, you know the country, and we may yet * nick in'
for a fine run and a glorious finale."

In five minutes from that time we \vere up in our saddles
again, St. Prix, on Barbe-bleu, leading us by short cuts and with
rapid strides to the far end of the forest eastward. By this
manoeuvre leagues of cover had been avoided ; and so lucky and
judicious was the cast, that we had not reined up our horses for
half-a-minute before we heard the hounds running hard and
coming directly for us in full cry.

"We are over the scent, or we shall head him to a dead
certainty," said the Louvetier, in an agony of despair. And
scarcely were the words uttered when the hounds, flinging over
the scent, came to a sudden check within a hundred yards of the
spot on which we stood. True enough, we had headed the wolf
back. The wily brute, hearing the clatter of our horses' hoofs,
had turned short, and instead of breaking, as he meant to have
done, sought again the darkest depths of that trackless forest.
Not a word was spoken as the pack, bursting like a shell around
us, felt eagerly for the scent, every hound doing his work as if
the recovery of the line depended on him individually ! Wider
and wider they swept over the ground, busy as bees on every
side, till a noble hound called Talleyrand, dropping his stern,
threw his tongue like a clap of thunder. Then, what a scurry it
was to catch him ; and what a grand peal burst on the ear as the

252 WOLF-HUNTING.

whole pack, getting together, rattled along with a roar of harmony
that made the old forest rock to its very centre.

" That was a trying moment of suspense," observed the Lou-
vetier, whose countenance had indicated intense anxiety during
the check ; " but I really think the untoward act of heading
the wolf may yet turn to our advantage. Had he broken
where he intended, his point would doubtless have been the
rough covers of Bourbriac, some six leagues away ; but now he
may put his head for Hengoet, and give us a better chance."

So he did ; and although some of the chasseurs, who carried
their carabines and professed to know Dualt as intimately as their
own pockets, rode hard for a shot at several points, the old villain
never gave them a chance, but went, like an arrow, straight for the
western side of the cover, and, breaking at the exact spot on which
we had stopped the hounds on the previous night, he led us to
Hengoet at a pace that would have blown a mountain fox. The
jays screeched and the magpies chattered, migrating in dismay
from their old secluded haunts, as the chase swept through
Hengoet, pointing over the dreary waste direct for Locrist. 'The
long-winded horns were now useless, indeed, an incumbrance to
the chasseurs : the hounds, driving like fire over a prairie, needed
not their aid, and the men had enough to do to manage their
steeds and live with the cry.

" Go along, Frank ! " said Keryfan, observing my cob still
travelling as sweet as oil over the roughest ground ; " go along !
we've got a Tartar before us ; and if they don't stop him in
Locrist, he'll take us either to Trefranc or Conveau to a dead
certainty."

" I only hope he may," said the Louvetier, as, clearing a bank
higher than a parish pound, he landed in the road, where the
fight took place between the butcher's horse and the Jersey
dealer. At this point, however, the wolf turned, apparently
mistrusting the safety of Locrist as much as the Louvetier • and

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 253

leaving that valley to the right, he traversed the rough table-land,
for many a mile overgrown with heather and stunted broom,
direct for Trefranc. Thus far, but for the lanes and unfenced
wastes, it would have been impossible to have lived with the
pack. Six horsemen, however, thanks to St. Prix's pilotage, were
not only well up, but were able, on descending the hill, to view
the brute as he entered Trefranc not a hundred yards ahead of
the hounds. Stout as he was, his heart must have quailed, as
the Louvetier reined up his steed, irresistibly impelled to blow
his horn and sound "La Viie" even in mid-chase. The three
chasseurs, who carried their carabines, now separated, and
galloping directly for the far side of the cover, hoped to inter-
cept him if the wolf attempted to break away from this strong
cover. For this fell purpose, happily, they were too late, though
just in time to sound " Le Debuche" as the pack broke away, ten
couple together, and every hound in his place, straight for Glomel,
a cover of M. de Saisy's on a spur of the Black Mountains.

But he was doomed to fall ere he reached that sheltering
retreat. A charcoal-burner, as the chase approached a small
outlying coppice, snatched up his gun, and, firing at him in close
quarters, shattered one of his hind legs, just above the hock;
the hounds were on him in another minute, and after a terrible
struggle, in which the peasant took an active part, the strong
beast succumbed to numbers, and died fighting fiercely and
mutely to the very last.

254 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER XXII.

NOTWITHSTANDING the unfeigned regret of the Louvetier that
his hounds had not been permitted to pull down in fair chase this
stout old wolf, I could not help remarking to Keryfan that the
charcoal-burner's shot was a timely and fortunate stroke in favour
of the hounds. They had run him incessantly, including drag
and chase, from eight in the morning till three o'clock in the
afternoon, and that, too, for a distance of ten leagues at least,
over as rough a country as any in Lower Brittany. The wolf,
however, during the latter part of the chase — that between
Trefranc and Glomel — had been gradually increasing the space
between him and them, and bid fair, judging by the beaten
condition of the latter, to " knock them out of time," even if
their courage and stamina had enabled them to maintain the
chase for an hour longer, when night would have given him the
victory.

It was fortunate, also, for the hounds that, by killing at
Glomel, they were within such easy distance — only two leagues—
from Carhaix ; and certainly not less fortunate for our steeds and
the running piqueurs, whose powers of endurance had been sorely
tried by the straight-away tactics of this veteran wolf. Long and
continuous, however, as the chase had been, the piqueurs, from
their knowledge of the country and of the short cuts from one
cover to another, managed to put in an appearance before St. Prix

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 255

had sounded the mort for the last time at the death-scene. Nor
was the change from Callac back to our old quarters an unwel-
come prospect to any of us, great as had been the sacrifice and
assiduous the attention of M. and Madame Thomas during our
short sojourn at their hotel. Keryfan, indeed, indulged in the
strongest expressions of thanksgiving on returning to Carhaix ;
the separation from his dressing-case and clean linen having been
the subject of sore misery to him even for one night.

Short, however, as the distance was between Glomel and
Carhaix, the cross-country road over, or rather through, which we
struggled proved by far the most wearisome work of the day, and
did more injury to our horses than double the distance would
have done on a better road. It was like travelling over Marsh
Gibbon, or the Clayton Woods in Oxfordshire, after a wet
November and a hard day with the Bicester Hounds — a heavy
clay, that stuck like bird-lime to the horses' legs, and a slush,
fetlock deep and more, so impeded their action that, had we not
dismounted and driven them before us, Shafto's horse and mine
would certainly never have reached Carhaix that night at all.
The piqueurs and the hounds did better ; they travelled on the
top of the hedge-banks, which, being broad and readily drained,
afforded the driest footpath, or troed-ffordd, obtainable in those
heavy lands.

By the time we entered the town of Carhaix it was dark
night, and the glimmering old lanterns, slung on a single wire
.across the streets, and that, too, at long intervals one from the
other, presented but a dismal light, and served rather to increase
the gloom and render it only the more visible, as we groped our
way through the narrow, silent avenue leading to the Hotel la Tour
d'Auvergne. Here and there, indeed, in a few of the best shop
windows stood a wretched resin candle, imparting so faint a ray
that, were it not for its locality, might well be mistaken for the
glimmer of a glow-worm's tail : the object of the pale beacon being

256 WOLF-HUNTING.

rather to show that customers would still be attended to than to>
exhibit the variety and quality of the goods within. Dismal as
the aspect was, however, out of doors, right pleasant was it to
see Marseillier's hearty and ever-cheerful countenance beaming
with joy at our unexpected return, and bidding us welcome within
his portals as if we had been old friends he had lost sight of for
many a long day. Verily, his warm greeting acted like a cordial
on our spirits as, wearied by the wet mud-work, and somewhat
depressed by the surrounding gloom, we entered his comfortable
hotel.

Then his tongue, which was as long as that of an ant-eater,
rattled on like the clapper of a mill, the sole subject of its
volubility being the rascality of Johnson, the Jersey horse-dealer.

" Butcher Kenwyn has had a narrow escape," said he ; " and
would probably have lost both his horse and his money if the
police had not tracked this villain to his den in the very nick of
time."

"What, our companion of yesterday?" inquired St. Prix, fairly
taken by surprise at this startling intelligence.

" The same," answered Marseillier ; " the man whom I intro-
duced to your society as a gentleman, M. de St. Prix ; for which
act I owe you and your friends the most ample apology, as a
greater rogue never assumed that honourable title."

" I did not at all like the looks of the man, I own," said
St. Prix ; " but inasmuch as he was a stranger, and apparently
fond of hunting, I tried to overcome the prejudice one is too apt
to feel, either for good or ill, at first sight, and so welcomed him
to our hunt. But what has happened, Marseillier ? "

The garrulous host then proceeded to relate the capture of
the horse-dealer by a London detective, aided by a French
commissary of police, and the circumstances, so far as he could
learn them, that led to his apprehension.

" No sooner," said he, " had Johnson returned to Carhaix last

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 257

^evening than he proceeded at once to Kenwyn's to claim the
horse, ' Lunatique/ at the price agreed upon between them ; and
although the butcher was loth enough to part with so good a slave
-at so low a figure, his vice as a saddle-horse being heretofore
deemed incurable, the threat of a proces-verbal so alarmed him
.that he reluctantly consented to accept Johnson's bill and give
up the horse. But just as the latter was about to ride away in
triumph, meaning to send off the horse next morning to Morlaix,
for shipment to England, the officers pounced upon him, and,
securing his wrists in steel manacles, carried him off to Port
Rieux, thence to be conveyed to Jersey by the first vessel leaving
the port for that island. The charge against him is that of arson,
with intent to defraud an influential London fire-insurance society.
It appears he had insured his premises and stock-in-trade for
a large sum with that and other companies, and that, on three
different occasions, fire had broken out most unaccountably in
the lofts, consuming, as Johnson swore, a large quantity of hay
and corn, for which he was twice paid in full by the insurance
companies. Suspicion, however, fell upon him as the perpetrator;
and his neighbours, after giving him the nickname of Guy Fawkes,
did not scruple to warn the fire-office agents that foul play had
been practised on them upon each occasion. So a vigilant eye was
kept upon him on every side, even by his own stablemen ; and
when, for the third time, a fire was discovered in a loft, which no
one but himself had entered for four-and-twenty-hours previously,
a stringent inquiry was at once instituted by the chief insurance
company j and, bit by bit, evidence was at length elicited which
went to prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the premises
had been fired by Johnson's own hand. In the meantime, while
these preliminaries were being sifted, Johnson, not liking the turn
affairs were taking, and probably cowed by his own conscience,
quitted the island privately by night, taking passage in a fishing
craft, which for a small sum landed him at Treguier, on our own-

258 WOLF-HUNTING.

coast. Secret as had been his flight, however, the non-return of
the boat on the following day gave rise to inquiries, which soon
brought the London detective on his track; and although no
footprints remained to indicate his route o'er the pathless sea, the
officer in pursuit, as if guided by instinct, drew the Brittany ports,
one by one, from St. Malo westward, and at length hit off his
man at the Treguier Douanerie.

" From that point there was little further difficulty in the
matter, for had the fugitive retired to the forest, and lived with
the wolves, instead of coming here to hunt them and deal for
horses, our police and gendarmes would have hunted him
down, to a certainty, as weasels would hunt a rat in a bundle
of faggots."

" Aye," said Shafto, " and would take care that he was sent to
Cayenne afterwards, there to expiate his crime by expatriation
and labour for the remainder of his life. In England convicts
are kept at home, and fed on far better fare than falls to the lot
of the honest, industrious labourer ; and if they only happen to
have plausible tongues, and a credulous chaplain, they are again
let loose on the public to practise, as they too often do, with
improved knowledge, their old craft of ruffianism and felony."

Apropos to ticket-of-leave men, a story is told of the late
Lord Carlisle, who, when he was Viceroy of Ireland, undertook,
from motives of philanthropy, to employ convicts thus liberated
as domestic' servants at Dublin Castle. Accordingly, one day
after dinner, when two strapping ticket-of-leave men had been
waiting at table, powdered and full-dressed as footmen in court
livery, Lord Carlisle turned to an intimate friend, one of the
wittiest and best known of diners-out in London, and asked him
to give his opinion and tell him honestly what he thought of
the plan.

" Well, my lord," said he, " I think if you persevere with it,
jou will soon be the only spoon left in this house."

WILD SPORT IN BKITTANY. 259

This out-spoken opinion of course provoked a laugh, but did
not prevent that kind, large-hearted man from going on with his
scheme, and doing all in his power to find employment for the
convict class released from prison on tickets-of-leave.

The next morning at breakfast, St. Prix, to our infinite regret,
announced his intention of taking his hounds home to Morlaix
so soon as they were able, after their recent hard work, to
undergo the journey. " The duties of my office have now been
fulfilled," said he, " in this district • and although I shall turn
my back on you and it with much pain, the wolf," he added,
dropping his voice to a whisper, " is a precious animal, and
merits some consideration, at least on our parts, for the sport
he shows in these wild forests. Besides, a blank day, such as
we had at Locrist, I should be sorry to inflict on you ever again ;
and to guard against its recurrence for the future we must be
careful not to diminish our present stock beyond a certain limit,
or disappointment will be the sure result."

" No fear of that, I should hope," said I. " These forests
of yours are so grand and continuous, and the population so
sparse, that even if you had an Edgar ruling over you, the
extermination of the wolf would be a thing impossible in such
a country."

" True enough ; it would take a long time and mighty efforts
to exterminate the race ; but still, as guns are now so commonly
carried by all classes of the community, and every peasant, unless
handsomely paid for it, murders a wolf as he would a viper, the
stock might easily be so reduced as to render a find in these vast
forests a matter of frequent uncertainty."

While this discussion was going on, the sound of a vehicle
rattling over the stones, and brought to a standstill at the doors
of the hotel, suddenly arrested the Louvetier's attention, who,
springing from his seat, and announcing his belief that old Caesar
and the tufters had arrived from Callac, proceeded at once to

260 WOLF-HUNTING.

inspect the condition of the gallant hound after the maltreatment
he had met with on the previous day. A crowd of bystanders
had already gathered round the charette, for, besides the maimed
old warrior, whose head, fearfully swollen, was a mass of wounds,
his gaunt enemy, the she-wolf, was lashed in a conspicuous position
to the back part of the driver's seat, and looked even now

" Tremendous still in death."

The hound, of course, had his full share of admiration and
pity from the sympathising townsfolk, who, however, saw enough
of his crusty nature not to venture, beyond a few kind words, on
caressing him in his present sore plight. But it was the wolf
that excited the attention of the crowd to the highest degree.
On it they never seemed to be tired of gazing ; old people
crawled out on crutches, and women lifted their infant children
to take a view of the beast that all seemed to fear and hate
equally. Nor was it strange that so destructive a brigand, living
amongst them and yet doing his fell work so mysteriously that to
catch him in the act is a matter of the rarest occurrence, should
attract the curiosity of the suffering crowd, nor that, seeing him
now powerless for further evil, the expression of joy and gratula-
tion should be heard on every side. Accordingly, when the
charette moved off towards the kennels (if the peasants' hovels
appropriated to that purpose could be so called), the shout of
exultation that followed it brought every soul, riot already in the
streets, to the open windows, and roused old Caesar to such a
degree that he roared like thunder in response. Sejanus ducitur
unco, wrote the poet of a spectacle once exhibited in the streets
of mighty Rome ; and doubtless a similar shout might then have
been heard to that which now followed the fallen wolf as, with
a hook through its nose, its carcase was dragged triumphantly
through the streets of old Carhaix. On examining the wolf
subsequently, one of its hock-joints was found to be stiff, or

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 261

anchylose, as the doctors would term it, from the bite of a steel
gin, long since inflicted, and probably by that very gin consigned
by St. Prix to the bottom of the Locrist river. From the pendant,
long-drawn teats of the animal, it was inferred by Louis Trefarreg
and other gnostics that she had produced at least four or five
litters of cubs in her time, and had thus done good service to the
lupine race, but incalculable damage to the community at large.

To have been quartered at Carhaix, even for one day, with
nothing to do, would have been an infliction too terrible to
bear j and as the prospect of St. Prix's departure was imminent,
Keryfan and I made up our minds to accept Shafto's kind
invitation and pay him a visit at the Hermitage, where, he said,
if the Louvetier thought wolves enough had been killed for the
season, we might still find woodcock and wild-fowl to our hearts'
content. However, as we still hoped to enjoy the good company
of the Louvetier for a day or two longer, it was resolved, through
Marseillier's influence, to request the ouvriers to gather together
their trencher-pack, and give us a week-day hunt, instead of
waiting for Sunday, the usual day devoted by them to that
recreation.

A carpenter, who kept a couple of small, smart harriers,
appeared to be the chief controller of this motley crew ; and he,
on being promised a day's wages, readily consented to make
every arrangement for showing us a grand chasse after the manner
of the townsfolk, on the following day. I have already described
the hubbub occasioned by the mustering of this party QJI a
Sabbath morn ; but hitherto it had been quiet as a Quakers'
meeting, compared with the discordant din that roused every
soul in the town hours before daybreak on that especial occasion.
So well had Marseillier managed the matter — he himself being
a prominent member of the confederation — that every ouvrier
who possessed a musket, or kept a cur, no matter how useless
or how ignoble, made a point of joining the chasse ', the object

262 WOLF-HUNTING.

being not so much to enjoy the sport as to do honour to the
Louvetier, who was looked upon as a public benefactor to Carhaix
and the surrounding district.

Although the blasting of powder by those who were cleaning
their guns, and the braying of horns, and the yelping of curs
and the more distant thunder of St. Prix's hounds, began about
five A.M., it was past seven before the whole body of the town
chasseurs assembled in the Place, and thence, taking the Kergloff
road, sallied forth to the chase of every beast and bird, from a
linnet to a red-leg, or a squirrel to a roebuck, no game being
too insignificant for their guns, nor too big for their capacious
carnassieres. But for a full description of the day's diversion the
reader is referred to the next chapter.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CARHAIX is a very primitive town, and, so long as railways keep
their distance, is likely to continue so for many a year to come.
Beyond a couple of water-mills, to grind corn for the people,
here are no other mills nor manufactories to induce commercial
visits and increase the wealth of the place ; nor, beyond the
company of the Juge de Paix and the Doctor, both of whom
had travelled beyond the precincts of their native department —
the latter, indeed, even so far as Algeria — was there any society
to which a stranger could fly for recreation when the business of
the day was done, and night had drawn its dark curtain over the
sombre town. There was one billiard-room in the place, it is
true, but the seamed surface of its cloth indicated too plainly
how many a game the moths had played on it, and scarcely
would a schoolboy have been tempted to try his cue on such a
table ; and one cafe within a stone's-throw of the hotel ; but, with
the exception of an occasional commis-voyagtur, and that, too,
only after the breakfast meal, it was a rare occurrence indeed to
see even the idlest lounger of the town cross its threshold.

So, a man sojourning at Carhaix, without resources of his
own to fall back upon, either mental or muscular, literary or
mechanical, sedentary or sylvan, would inevitably feel the worst
horrors of isolation, and surfer the tortures of ennui to an
unlimited extent ; but to him who could be contented and happy

264 WOLF-HUNTING.

with a moderate share of field and sylvan amusements, the forests-
of the immediate neighbourhood would afford a varied diurnal
feast throughout the season : at least, this was the case at the
period to which these papers refer. The chasse of the townsfolk,
then, whatever that meant or might be supposed to include, was
an outing we all accepted with pleasure, and, with the exception,
of St. Prix, we shouldered our guns and sallied forth, with the
prospect at least of getting a good walk, if not of enjoying the
day's sport. The only weapon carried by the Louvetier on the
occasion was a club-stick, which, by the way, he handled in
Breton fashion, grasping it by the small end, and making the
knob do duty on the ground.

" No eye hath seen such scarecrows," exclaimed the immortal
Jack Falstaff, when he flatly refused to march into Coventry
before the ragged lot he was then leading ; but Jack's experience
would have been enlarged had he seen the strange medley of
men and dogs that marched upon Kergloff that morn, for certainly
in no quarter of the civilised globe could a wilder-looking set of
bipeds be found than those of Cornouaille proceeding with their
scratch-pack to the chasse in hunting costume. The latter, about
twenty in number, with the exception of five harriers, were chiefly
mongrels of the lowest type, from the form and features of which
it would have puzzled the craftiest cynologist to discover to what
class of dog they were most nearly allied, or what mongrel blood
most predominated in their veins. In some, united under one
skin, were the distinct characteristics of poodle, pointer, and
butcher's dog, while others displayed a dash of hound's blood,
grossly adulterated with that of the cur, the Italian greyhound,
and the curly-coated poodle, the last of which appeared to be
commingled with every description of dog that traversed, owned
or ownerless, the streets of Carhaix. Then there was one grandee
among the lot, a double-nosed Spanish pointer, with a skin fine
as satin, a stump tail, and a magnificent head : he looked like

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 26$

Endymion among the satyrs, and, if he had known it, would
doubtless have felt thoroughly ashamed of the low company into
which he had fallen.

The ouvriers and peasants, with three or four small shop-
keepers who joined the party, amounted, all told, to fourteen
men, but of these not more than eight carried their guns openly;
the remainder, not possessing the qualification of a permis de
c/iasse, were nevertheless equally well provided with a gun apiece
necessary for that purpose. These were the braconniers, or
poachers, who, in defiance of the law, followed the chase, early
and late, far more keenly than their licensed neighbours ; but,
till fairly afield and clear of the gendarmes, each man carried his
gun snugly doubled up within the folds of his outside wrapper,,
a skin garment one could scarcely dignify with the name of coat.
The appearance of the men was wild and picturesque in the
extreme; but, though clad for the most part in sheep and goats'
skins of various colours, it would be a libel on Defoe's hero to
say their accoutrements were equally well-fashioned with those
of the castaway sailor, manufactured by his own hands. He, at.
least, was dressed en suite in goat-skin from head to foot, and, as-
his biographer represents him, must have looked, as he was, the
king of that desert isle ; whereas the ragged, parti-coloured attire
of these men, torn as it was by the brambles, and patched with
the coarsest sackcloth, gave them the appearance of a set of
brigands, whose trade had been unproductive for many a long
day. Then their heavy broad-brimmed hats and long curly hair,,
depending over both shoulders, added not a little to their savage
aspect, though, to give them their due, a race generally less,
savage in nature than those Breton peasants it would be difficult
to find in many countries boasting more culture and a higher
civilisation.

But enough of the men ; and now for their mode of chase.
On turning from the high road into the broomy waste about a

266 WOLF-HUNTING.

mile beyond Kergloff, the carpenter, who acted as commandant
of the party, gave the signal to separate and form line abreast,
directing us, at the same time, to preserve a distance of at least
twenty paces between one gunner and another, and, above all,
to be careful how we fired when game was afoot — a word of
caution especially needful on the present occasion. Within a
league or so of the town, on every side, the country is habitually
so well combed by these artists that game of every description is
provokingly rare ; but as the radius is extended, partridge, red-leg
and grey, woodcock and snipe, rabbit, hare, and roe-deer are
found in sufficient numbers to warrant a good bag ; while farther
afield still, the fox, the wolf, and the boar are, one or the other,
to be met with in all the great forests around.

Consequently, for the first hour, although hundreds of acres of
gorse, broom, and heather were steadily drawn at a slow walk,
the men treading out the lower growth with minute care, and the
dogs searching the higher and less accessible cover equally close,
scarcely a dozen shots were fired by the whole party, and those
chiefly at rabbits and a woodcock here and there. While we
were thus advancing slowly towards better ground, and a covey
of red-legs, six in number, had fallen, every bird of them, to the
peasants' guns, a low suppressed whistle, like that of a steam
engine indicating danger ahead, passed rapidly along our line,
and created intense alarm among the braconniers, some of whom
instantly thrust their guns, muzzle forward, into the densest furze
bushes, while others doubled them up, consigning the barrel into
one pocket and the stock into another, within the folds of their
capacious vests. Immediately after the last volley at the red-legs,
a man's bare head had been seen peering, stealthily as it were,
between two hillocks at some distance in front of us, as if it
was his object to make out the men who were carrying guns and
had just fired at the feathered game.

That the head could belong to no one but a gendarme, lying

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 267

in ambush to catch them, was at once inferred by the braconniers,
and the dread they seemed to feel at the chance of being trapped
by this law official would have been simply ridiculous if it had
not led shortly afterwards to a serious assault on a poor peasant
who had been the innocent cause of this panic. The man had
been at work grubbing up stumps of furze and heather for fire-
wood, and clearing the ground for future tillage, when, hearing
the slugs whistling through the air in his direction, he had
prudently placed himself behind some earth-mounds lying between
him and the advancing party, and thence taking a survey of the
proceedings, his head being unfortunately uncovered, he was at
once mistaken for a gendarme, who had laid his helmet aside
to avoid discovery — a ruse not unfrequently adopted by the
gendarmes when stalking a suspected bracomrier.

On coining up to the spot where the peasant lay extended on
the ground, the indignation of the braconniers knew no bounds,
swearing furiously, notwithstanding the man's protestations to the
contrary, that he had intentionally played this trick on them, or
"why," it was asked, "had his hat been laid aside when he
showed his ass's head over and between the earth-mounds ? "
One of the braconniers, a well-known wrestler, being more
excited than the rest, dashed savagely at the poor fellow as he
was rising from the ground, and kicked him down again with
his heavy sabot, till he fairly groaned with pain. When this
assault, however, took place, those of the party who still carried
their guns had gone on with the chase ; nor, till we heard the
man's cry for help, were we aware that the wrath of the
braconnier had broken out into blows. "This is too bad," said
Keryfan, who was the first to discover what had happened ;
"and that luckless peasant will be seriously maltreated, I fear,
if we do not return at once to his aid." To the infinite disgust
of the carpenter-commandant, St. Prix and Keryfan, facing about,
proceeded forthwith to execute this errand of mercy ; but before

268 WOLF-HUNTING.

they could reach the spot the man had jumped on his legs, and,,
starting off like a tail-piped cur, disappeared, amid the shouts and
laughter of the braconniers, in an adjoining thicket. He had
been more frightened than hurt by the kick, which the bystanders
averred was a mere touch of the toe — a wrestling exploit, designed
to give the fellow a back fall, and nothing more. But the most
provoking part of this affair was the delay occasioned in recovering
the hidden guns ; and as the braconniers not only possessed by
far the best dogs, but knew best where game was to be found,.
Marseillier, who had always an eye to the pot, insisted on the
advisability of going back, all hands, to aid them in the search,
and then, with an unbroken line and all the dogs, to go to work
again.

This arrangement, after some parley, was acceded to ; but
the time and trouble expended in finding the guns, shoved, as
they were during the short panic, into the densest furze bushes,
was a worry not to be described. At length, all being found, we
managed to get once more under weigh together, and again the
beat was resumed in right earnest. The space of country swept
by the extended line could not have been less than four hundred
yards, from St. Prix on our right to the pugnacious braconnier
on the extreme left ; so that, searched and trodden out as the
ground was, it would have been almost impossible for a cock-
mouse to have escaped detection within the limits of that
doomed area. So regular and so systematic was the operation,
and so expert the marksmen, that it seemed to me quite
wonderful, not that game should be scarce, but that there should
be any game at all within two leagues at least of the town of
Carhaix, when battues like these were carried on hebdomadally
throughout the season.

When a hare, the shiest of animals in this district, was found,
and by sheer luck had escaped the shower of slugs that whizzed
in her wake, the whole pack, including even the stately Sancho,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 269

scurried off in the wildest pursuit, and frequently were not seen
again for ten, fifteen, or even twenty minutes. Bawling after
them, as their masters did, was of no use whatever, and it was
only when the five hounds came to a dead check that they gave
the slightest heed to the signal that proved most effective for
their recall. The first hare that succeeded in running the gauntlet
securely got away, with every dog in full cry at her heels, and, as
she had apparently been unhit, I made up my mind the pack
were gone for just so long as that hare could stand on her legs
before them. " You'll never see them again," I said, somewhat
•cynically, to the carpenter, " till they have either lost or killed
that hare."

"Oh, yes, we shall," he answered, confidently. "The moment
they come to a check the hounds will always return on hearing
the report of my gun, and when their noses are up the mongrels
soon follow."

In a few minutes afterwards the cry suddenly ceased, and the
carpenter, who had all the while been straining his listening
powers to the utmost, proceeded to exemplify the virtue of his
novel signal by firing off both barrels into the air, the shot
having been previously drawn, to save the ammunition. Jem
Hill's famous too-too, when he rattled the old Heythrop back to
their hunted fox, never did its work more promptly nor more
effectively ; for, exactly as the carpenter had represented it,
almost immediately the hounds could be seen coming back,
followed by the tag-rags soon after, until all had returned to
their respective masters. On two or three other occasions, when
a hare got away, this process was repeated, and always with the
like success.

The habit of the hare, as we all know, is to run in circles, and
to return to the ground from which she was first started ; and
doubtless the knowledge of this habit had been frequently turned
to account by the carpenter, who, lying in wait for poor puss on

270 WOLF-HUNTING.

her homeward journey, would rarely draw his trigger in vain at
such a time. Then the hounds, with their half-reasoning powers,
would quickly put two and two together, and discover that this
shot, fired by their master, usually betokened the death of the
hare • and this inference probably led them to fly to the carpen-
ter's signal so readily, whenever a check made it doubtful whether
the scent could be recovered again or not.

As we advanced farther into the wilderness — for such, in the
absence of all traces of cultivation, it certainly was — we came to
a broad plateau in the direction of Huelgoet, so matted with
heather, knee-deep and luxuriant on every side, that whenever
old Sancho, carrying his head aloft in the air, and indicating by
his earnest expression the immediate presence of game, came to
a dead point, I almost made up my mind that a grouse must
rise from such likely ground. But no ; the inevitable red-leg
dominates here, and the grouse and blackcock are as unknown
as the dodo in this land of ling. Yet anyone comparing these
moors — producing as they do the whortleberry heather, the cran-
berry, and black fir — with the moors of Great Britain, would be
puzzled to explain why grouse are not indigenous here as they
are in our own favoured country ; for certainly the means of
subsistence for them appear to be as abundant in this as in that
land. The great landed proprietors of Lower Brittany might
possibly take a leaf with advantage from the Highland laird's
farm-book, and, by the cultivation of grouse, hither imported
convert tens of thousands of acres, now lying waste and
unprofitable, into valuable shooting ground. Capital would,
of course, be required even for such a stock; but here that
commodity is rare indeed, and until it is supplied, these vast
tracts of waste land must remain, we fear, as desolate to the
sportsman's eye as they are profitless to the owner's pocket.

The red-legs, too, were not so plentiful as Marseillier seemed
to expect them in such favourable ground, three coveys, number-

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 271

ing not more than six or seven birds in each, being all we sprung
over a mile of moor. On descending a gentle slope of the hill
facing south, and well sheltered from the westerly wind, which
here cuts the tops of the trees exposed to it as with a shears, we
came on as fine a patch of gorse, about an acre in extent, as ever
grew in our midland shires. The very look of it would have
made Osbaldeston's mouth water with expectation, for it was-
thick as a holly hedge, and would have tried the mettle of even
a Furrier hound to face its long and close-matted spines. I
heard the word "louarn" passed among the peasants, as three
or four of them, breaking line, rapidly advanced to the opposite
side of the cover ; and as I knew that word to signify " fox "
in the Breton tongue, it was clear they were making prepara-
tions to give him, if at home, a warm reception at the far
end.

Thick and spiky, however, as the cover was, half-a-dozen men
forced their way boldly into it, while the dogs, even the satin-
coated Sancho, exhibited like courage, and seemed to take as
little heed of the spines as if they had been cased in coats-of-mail,
like armadilloes. One of the curs first opened, throwing his
tongue with a defiant growl, as if half-terrified by the game he
had found ; then another and another squeaked in ; and when
the hounds joined cry, the peasants raised a yell that would have
done credit to the wild hunters of the Black Forest " He's up,
for a thousand ! " shouted Shafto to me, quoting Lord Kintore's
favourite expression ; " but with those mute peasants posted at
the down-wind point of the far side, it will be a miracle if he
gets clear away."

Nevertheless the miracle' took place. In the heat of the
uproar the fox, which was the game afoot, squatted down, and,
throwing the yelping pack over the scent, doubled back and
broke cover within five yards of my old smooth-bore. He was
a fine fellow, yellow as a guinea, and carried his long, white-tagged

272 WOLF-HUNTING.

brush level with his back, as he flashed ahead, like a comet over
the arch of heaven.

" Give it him, Frank ! " shouted Keryfan, who, although some
forty yards off, was my nearest neighbour. " A fair broadside as
I ever saw : give him both barrels."

But the veteris vestigia flammce made my pulse tingle at the
•sight of him, and I felt as if my right arm would have been
paralysed at the socket if I had struck down that noble fellow.

" No," I said, " I couldn't do it. Old memories would never
forgive the deed ; nor could I ever look Jack Russell in the face
again if I once shot a fox "

" Diable ! " retorted he, with a look of surprise. " Not shoot
•a fox, Frank, in this wilderness ? Why, here he is really a
noxious animal — does a deal of mischief, and shows no sport.
Depend upon it, the carpenter, who estimates the value of his
skin at three francs, will set you down as a veritable Quixote for
the rest of your life."

" Can't help that," I replied ; and as I gave him a rattling
•cheer, his brush swung round, as if saying adieu and waving
his gratitude for the clemency I had shown him. A little vicky,
however, doubtless his co-partner in the patch of gorse, was less
fortunate in her tactics, for, breaking at the point guarded by the
peasants, three of whom fired at her one after the other, she fell
dead to the last shot. Nevertheless, all three claimed a share in
the spoil, swearing, each one of them, that his shot had dealt
the fatal coup. As a sharp wrangle was the result, the carpenter,
on being appealed to as arbitrator, pronounced at once in favour
of all three claimants — that being the customary practice on such
occasions.

Their eagerness for the skin, considering the grim poverty of
these men, was scarcely to be wondered at, seeing it was valued at
three francs ; whereas a hare, skin and body, could be purchased
in the market at Carhaix for fourteen sous, about two-thirds of a

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 273

franc j a brace of birds or a couple of woodcock for sixteen sous,
and a couple of wild-duck for one franc. The best beef, too,
was only four sous, or twopence, a pound ; and, in fact, at that
period, before railways had equalised the prices of Europe, all
the ordinary articles of food were equally low at Carhaix and
the other inland towns of Lower Brittany. While on this subject
let me add that the charge for board and lodging, both as
liberal and good as a bachelor could wish, at the Hotel la Tour
d'Auvergne, was on a scale quite commensurate with the above
prices, namely, seventy-five francs per head per month ! For
this sum, just three pounds, a comfortable bed-room, with linen,
lights, and firewood, two bountiful meals a-day, including a variety
of dishes as well cooked as they would have been at a first-class
Paris restaurant, with vin ordinaire ad libitum, was supplied to
the guest en pension par mois ; and after a long experience and a
somewhat extensive acquaintance with European hotels, I can
with truth say I never fared better in my life than at the Hotel
la Tour d'Auvergne. But at the present time, if anyone ventured
to ask for the like accommodation at the like price, Marseillier —
if he, or rather Madame, still rules the roast of that " festive
place " — would stare with astonishment, and probably return for
answer, "Nous avons change tout-cela"

But to proceed with the chasse. Descending now from the
heathery plain, we drew a long scrubby cover, occupying both
sides of a narrow valley, and filled with alders, sedge, and slush,
the very ground, it might be imagined, to which woodcock would
resort both for food and shelter. But after struggling for a mile
"through bog, bush, and briar," we scarcely flushed above a
dozen cock, and out of these bagged but seven along the whole
line. The grass under this copsewood was far too long and thick
to allow a free passage for the bird in his gait for food, and hence
the paucity of that game in apparently so likely a spot. Farther
on, however, the ground improved ; the alders were higher, in

274 WOLF-HUNTING.

fact, forest trees, and the bogs, generally bare, carried spare and
broken patches of short grass over their quivering crusts ; and
here the cock were far more plentiful. But, with the trees above
their heads, no temptation would induce the onvriers or the
braconniers to draw the cover, because, as they averred, it was
of no use flushing the cock when it was impossible to shoot
them in such a place. The dogs, too, only cared for flax, and
would scarcely stoop on the haunt of a cock, much less quest
when the bird rose. So there was nothing for it but to go in
and tackle them ourselves. Accordingly, Keryfan, Shafto, and
myself plunged into the thickest of it ; and, with old Sancho for our
chief aide-de-camp, we must have had twenty snap-shots in about
so many minutes. Of course a great number were missed, every
bird of which brought down such a cross-fire upon us that, unless
some protecting angel had especially watched over our exposed
bodies, the peasants must have bagged other and heavier game
than mere woodcock. In vain we shouted for mercy or threatened
reprisals • still every cock- that escaped our guns brought a volley
of slugs whizzing about our ears and cutting off alder-twigs on
every side. At length, most unexpectedly, a hare jumped up out
of a rushy bog, and, getting instantly beyond our ken, carried
back all the dogs in full cry. The peasants, too, believing it to
be a fox, darted off in pursuit, hoping to intercept the wily beast
at the far end ; and thus relieved, we enjoyed, without further
annoyance, some very pretty shooting for a good hour or more.

But our danger was not yet quite over. On rejoining us in
more open ground, the carpenter directed the whole party again
to form line and to beat abreast as heretofore ; and scarcely had
this order been obeyed, when a rabbit, found by a cur, dodged
back, and, coming straight towards me, endeavoured to force the
line under my very legs. At that moment two slugs passed
through a fold of my leather leggings, and the rabbit fell dead
at my feet. The perpetrator, however, an ouvrier standing not

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 275

twenty yards off on my left, did not go unpunished for his
reckless temerity. The carpenter-commandant rebuked him
fiercely, and told him he should be excluded evermore from
joining the town chasse. This, too, as I afterwards found, was
no idle threat ; for over and over again the ouyrier came to beg
my pardon most pathetically (though he would have done it
again the next instant if a rabbit had given him the chance),
praying that I would intercede with the carpenter and get him
restored to his lost rank. But the carpenter was firm, saying he
was a dangerous fellow, and would one day shoot one of his
hounds if he allowed him to join them again.

What the total amount of the bag was at the end of the day
nobody seemed to know ; and, as every man carried the game he
killed in his own carnassiere, and showed a strong repugnance to
disclose its contents, the quantity and variety of the game gathered
could not be accurately ascertained. It must have been a con-
siderable lot, to judge from the carnasst'eres, most of which were
filled to repletion, and must have heavily burdened the backs of
the bearers. Nevertheless, the sturdy little fellows stood up well
under them, and fagged and shot as if unconscious of the weighty
load. The number of woodcock killed exceeded probably all the
rest of the game, flax and wing, put together; but that number
might have been doubled if the Bretons had gone manfully into
cover and followed up their dogs per crassum et per rarum, instead
of waiting for the birds to come to them on the outside, and
only getting an occasional shot in open ground. But, excellent
game-shots as many of them are in the open, they do not seem
to understand the business of shooting in cover, provided the
growth is at all thick, and higher than their own heads.

The approach of night now brought our chasse to an end ; and
as we had been continually drawing farther and farther afield, we
could not have been less than three leagues from Carhaix when,
for want of daylight, our steps were homeward turned : the dogs,

276 WOLF-HUNTING.

indeed, had struck work long before, and, with the exception of
old Sancho, followed each one his master's heels with a forlorn
and spiritless air. This return journey was by far the most
disagreeable part of the day's work ; for, in order to avoid the
slushy lanes, it was necessary to travel in Indian file on the tops
of the banks, which, hollowed out by the peasants' sabots, and
elevated some ten feet above the level of the land, presented to
a stranger, at least, a most awkward and dangerous footpath on
a dark night. How the peasants, so often returning in a state
of intoxication to their homes in the country, travel over them
without breaking their necks, is quite marvellous, when, from the
holes and root-snags so often crossing the trough, a sober man
finds it difficult enough to keep his legs with all his wits about
him.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 277

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE departure of St. Prix and his hounds from Carhaix cast a
gloom not only on our little circle, now reduced to a trio, but
also on the whole town. His yearly visits, in the execution of
his duty as Louvetier, being productive of so much benefit to
the community, both by the wolves he killed, as well as by the
coin which he and the followers of his hunt so liberally expended,
were the chief subject of interest and conversation for weeks
before his arrival. But not for the foregoing reasons only was
the Louvetier regarded as king of men in that district, nor because
he was a Breton, noble by birth and lineage, and the proprietor
of vast territorial possessions, extending from Callac, near the
Black Mountains, to Morlaix, on the shores of the Atlantic, but
rather because he was the most generous of human beings, kind
and courteous to all classes alike — a nobleman, in every sense of
the word, to the backbone. It is, however, as a chasseur that we
have chiefly to speak of him in these pages. As such, whether
as horseman or houndsman, thoroughly understanding the nature
and habits of the wild game he hunted and the best mode of
hunting it with success, he was second to none, either in Brittany
or any other country. " In breeding my hounds," he said to me
as we were one day jogging together to cover, " I don't go in so
much for clean throats and straight legs as you do in England ;
but if a hound will hit and drive, and throw his tongue when he

278 WOLF-HUNTING.

hits — for those are the cardinal points in a hound's character —
I'll never draft him for his uncomely looks."

" Quite right, too," I replied. " The chase of the present
day, however, in your country and ours is so very different, that
a hound in every respect qualified for your work would probably
very soon find himself ' out of the game ' in an English fox chase.
Pace is the first consideration with us ; and a hound must need
be straight in his limbs and clean in his growth, or he could
never blow his fox in forty minutes, and, above all, keep clear of
the horses pressing on his very stern. These, with condition, are
the indispensable points required in a modern English fox-hound ;
and if, on a flag-inspection, the puppy lack them, he is never
given the chance of showing what merits he may possess as a
chase-hound : he is drafted at once, and either goes to some
inferior pack or to the colonies. So, as I scarcely need add,
many a good hound, throaty and out-at-elbow — faults supposed
to be incompatible with speed — is parted with in this way."

" No doubt about that," said the Louvetier. " A throaty
hound almost invariably possesses a good nose, and, as I have
often proved, a hound, though crooked in his legs as a dachshund,
may be a rare one to drive for all that. But if you are so parti-
cular in your selection of hounds, the breeding and rearing of
them must be a heavy item in the cost of producing a first-rate
pack."

"Very true. Forty or even fifty couple of puppies are annually
sent to walk to replenish the wants of a single grand pack, out of
which number, after due trial and examination, both in kenne*
and afield, when they come up, perhaps not more than twelve
or fifteen couple are admitted as entries into the regular pack ;
the remainder, as I have before stated, are drafted without a
scruple."

u Ah, well," said the Louvetier, as if lost in astonishment at
the boundless wealth of the English people, " a master of hounds

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 279

must have a mine of gold at his command to support such a
system."

" Doubtless," I replied, "vast sums have been expended from
time to time in bringing the fox-hound to his present perfection ;
but as a general rule, men even of moderate means, provided
they keep off the Turf and do not gamble, are rarely brought to
ruin by keeping hounds ; on the contrary, the office of M.F.H.
is often considered the best safety-valve for a young man on
succeeding to his property, as, being at least an innocent and
manly occupation, its tendency is to divert him from less enjoyable
and more hurtful pursuits."

St. Prix's observation, which I chronicled at the time, respect-
ing the cardinal points required in a hound's work — namely, that
he should be quick to hit, a hard driver, and never fail to throw
his tongue on making a hit — left an impression on my mind that
if it had fallen to his lot to handle a pack of fox instead of a
pack of wolf-hounds, he would have earned a distinction in the
craft equal to that of Mr. Tom Smith or Anstruther Thomson,
and, like the latter, would have taken to " Welsh blood," or any
blood, no matter how unfashionable, that possessed in a superior
degree the above requirements.

On the following day, after St. Prix's departure for Morlaix,
our horses having been already sent forwards, a voiture, drawn
by a pair of dun cobs, the property of a M. Dinguff, conveyed
Keryfan, Shafto, and myself with great comfort to Gourin — the
distance being just five leagues, and the charge for conveyance,
including the coachman, only eight francs. Our destination
being the Hermitage, still some four leagues farther — access to
which had never yet been attempted by a carriage slung upon
springs — ourselves and baggage were now consigned to some
rough ponies, which a friendly charcoal-burner for a few francs
had placed at Shafto's disposal. Unkempt and grimy to the last
degree were these poor ill-conditioned beasts ; and when Keryfan's

280 WOLF-HUNTING.

Parisian dressing-case and grand portmanteau, ornamented with
fancy buckles and brass studs, were strapped aloft on the back
of one of them, it was impossible to forbear a laugh, so strange
was the contrast between the sorry beast and the gay burden.
But with this weight only on his back, the charcoal-burner
seemed to think the animal insufficiently freighted, for he con-
stantly solicited Keryfan to mount behind his baggage, avowing
that, by the additional weight on his rump, the fore-legs of the
beast would be less likely to give way. One glance, however,
at the knees, which had been recently sorely barked, convinced
Keryfan he had far better trudge any distance on his own legs
than trust his neck to so frail a jade.

The Hermitage has already been described in a previous
chapter as the residence fitted up by Shafto for the purpose of
pursuing the wild, fierce game inhabiting the forests that sur-
rounded it on every side ; and so far as its out-of-the-world,
solitary site could warrant it, no human habitation was ever
better entitled to that name. The robbers' nest occupied by the
Boons in that Exmoor gorge could scarcely have been more
inaccessible — having a rocky waste on one side, ravines and
forests on the other, with a footpath, only fit for a goat, leading
up to its rude and massive walls. Yet that rugged approach,
from long usage, had become as familiar to Shafto as the steps
of his club to a lounger in Pall Mall ; on foot or on horseback,
by night or by day, he traversed it with equal confidence. His
friends, too, remote and roadless as the country wras, found their
way to the Hermitage with little difficulty ; and once there (for,
as Keryfan said, was it not a temple dedicated conjointly to
St. Hubert and Hospitality?) the difficulty was to get away.

While on the subject of inaccessible localities, an anecdote
of the great Bishop of Exeter, Henry Phillpotts, occurs to my
mind, and may not be inaptly quoted on the present occasion.
In that vast and unwieldy cliocese, over which he presided for

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 281

upwards of thirty-eight years with such signal success, making
his presence and his power known from the Phoenician mines of
the Cassiterides to the rugged cliffs of Prawle Head, he was for
some time baffled in his wish to visit the parish of St. Cuthbert,
by the rector, who, to every proposal on the part of his lordship
to come and administer the rite of Confirmation to its inhabitants,
ever answered that, the road being so steep and impassable, he
doubted the possibility of his being able to reach St. Cuthbert on
wheels, but that he (the rector) would bring his candidates to meet
his lordship in some adjoining and more accessible parish. Now
the rector, a man of fair means, had yet conceived a reasonable
dread of the expense attendant on entertaining the bishop and
his retinue even for one night ; and hence, in reality, the plea of
bad roads, by which he hoped to scare the prelate from taxing
his hospitality. In every country house, however, for miles
around, wherever the bishop dined, there he invariably met the
rector of St. Cuthbert ; and at length, on hearing the old plea
again repeated, he could restrain himself no longer. " Well,
Mr. K — ," said he, in his measured, caustic, yet most courteous
style, "if the access to St. Cuthbert be so difficult, the egress
from it appears to be easy enough, for I have had the pleasure
of meeting you every night at dinner for the last week." It
need scarcely be added that after such a rebuke a Confirmation
was held at St. Cuthbert the first time the bishop visited that
neighbourhood again.

It is said of Julius Caesar that he felt greater pride in making
a good road than in gaining a battle ; and we know for a certainty
that, wherever his conquering legions marched, his roads paved
the way for future civilisation, and left a mark behind them
ineffaceable to this day. Yet he, the " Victor hostium et sui,"
was content to describe one of his grandest achievements in that
line by the following curt but most comprehensive inscription :
" Hanc viam, inviam, rotabilem fecit. — J. C."

282 WOLF-HUNTING.

From the condition of the roads, however, within many miles
of the Hermitage, it must be considered very doubtful if Julius
Caesar, after conquering the various tribes of Armorica, ever
penetrated the rugged region of Celtic Gaul which is known as
the backbone of Brittany.. Nor did the Romans occupy that
country permanently till the year A.D. 383, when a Roman officer
called Maximus, resident in Great Britain, revolting against the
Emperor Gratian, withdrew to Brittany, and, carrying with him
two Roman legions and a vast number of Celtic islanders, con-
ferred the government of Armorica on Meriadec, a warlike Celt
and a chief among his followers. This, the first great emigration
of Britons into that province, was soon succeeded by many others,
the immigrants finding peace and protection under the rule of the
Celtic chief.

Shafto, who had preceded our party by an hour or more,
came out to meet and welcome us as we hove in sight of his
porte-cochere, and the loud greeting he gave us at a distance of
some hundred yards, reminded me of that given to Ben Jonson
when he was approaching the country mansion of his supposed
friend, Drummond of Hawthorn den.

" Welcome, welcome, honest Ben ! "

shouted the host, as he spied the poet wending his way on foot
up a stately avenue leading to the house.

"Thank'ee, thank'ee, Hawthornden ! "

responded the expected guest, with that readiness in rhyming for
which he was so remarkable. But the poet laureate would have
eaten his chop at the Mermaid Club with his friends Raleigh,
Shakspeare, Beaumont, and Fletcher with a thankful heart, could
he have foreseen the cruel terms in which Drummond described
his character, after a three-weeks' visit, from notes taken at the
time, and at a subsequent period published to the world. In
this respect, however, Shafto's welcome was a very different one;

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 283

he would have gone to the stake rather than treated the man to
whom he had given the right hand of fellowship with such
disloyalty.

Amid a chorus of music, too, from hounds, setters, and
spaniels, every one of which had come out from his barrique far
as the chain would permit, we were welcomed to the Hermitage ;
while Owen Mawr and his busy little wife proceeded at once to
relieve the ponies of their baggage, and to express in the strongest
terms their delight at the return of their master and the cessation
of the solitude to which of late they had been so frequently
condemned. It did one's heart good to witness the honest,,
homely fashion in which these uncontaminated rustics sought to.
serve us in every possible way ; nor, from their downright refusal
to accept a single franc on our departure, could the imputation
of mercenary motives be attributed to their service, but, on the
contrary, it was all given, beyond a shadow of doubt, as a
veritable labour of love and a homage due to their master's
guests. " Heu pietas ! hen prisca fides ! " may we well say in
this independent age of education and communism.

Flakes of snow had been falling intermittently during the day,
and before we had fairly settled into our nooks at the Hermitage,
the leaden aspect of the world around gave token of more to
come. The rocky slopes of the hill-side had already changed
their hue, and the dark forests below, unruffled by the wind, were
gradually growing whiter and whiter under the soft feathery flakes
now gathering densely upon them.

" I don't like the look of the weather at all," said Shafto, as
he led Keryfan and myself across the courtyard to a kind of
outhouse which he called his larder, " for should it continue
snowing thus steadily for the next twenty-four hours, it will go
hard with us if Owen Mawr has not made ample provision for
the impending siege."

So saying, he flung open the door of the outhouse, which,

284 WOLF-HUNTING.

from the contents it revealed, looked far more like a butcher's
shop than an ordinary larder ; for there, suspended by hooks to
a cross-beam, hung a calf and two little sheep newly flayed, the
hind quarters of a bullock, and a couple of heads of wild boar
recently killed in the forest of Kilvern by Kergoorlas' and
St. Prix's hounds. ,

" Provision for a month at least," observed Keryfan, " and no
fear of short allowance even for a longer period, provided the
.garrison counts, as it now does, but five heads."

"Add five-and-twenty to that number, and you will be nearer
the mark," said Shafto ; " for every hound will have his black
bread moistened with good broth out of that stock. Annette
is a rare kennel-feeder, and would help a favourite hound to the
first cut out of a leg of mutton sooner than see him stinted in
his food."

During this time a lively conversation was going on between
Owen Mawr, Annette, and the charcoal-burner, whose ponies,
already well fed, stood with their heads close to the porte-cochere,
as if eager to be off on their homeward route. But there
was a hitch somewhere ; and, from the ominous expression
of the charcoal-burner's face, who ever and anon looked upwards
with alarm, shaking, as he did so, an avalanche of snow from
his broad-brimmed hat, it was evident that- he was not so
ready as his beasts were to turn his back on the hospitality and
safe shelter afforded by the Hermitage. " It's only three leagues
off, I tell thee ; not a metre more," said Owen Mawr and Annette
in the same breath, bent, as they had welcomed him, to " speed
the parting guest " to the utmost of their power. But the guest,
like the Squire of the pad in the old ballad, who

' ' Often took leave, but was loth to depart, "
still lingered on the threshold, urging that night was at hand, and

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 285.

that wolves would beset his path ere he could possibly gain the
walls of Gourin.

" Here, then," said Owen, impatiently thrusting a box of
lucifer matches into the man's hand, "take that for thy protection.
Thou hast enough there, with the aid of St. Francis, to scare all
the wolves in Brittany."

" I would rather trust to these walls than to all the saints in
the calendar," said the charcoal-burner ; " and as for the matches,,
let me but listen to the crackling faggots on thy hearth-stone, and
I'll give thee all I have earned by my day's labour with a thankful
heart."

Vain, however, were the poor fellow's entreaties for further-
hospitality. As well might he have hoped to move the mercy of
Pluto and the Eumenides as that of Owen Mawr and his wife,,
who, seeing it was but the commencement of a snow-storm,,
apprehended no danger whatever from the attack of wolves, and
attributed the man's disinclination to quit the Hermitage to his-
appreciation of the good fare he had found therein. His fears,,
they believed, were a mere sham ; and accordingly, as Owen all
but thrust him from the gate, Annette bid him, with a pitiless
grin, tell his beads every yard of the way, or the Loup-garou
would have him as well as his horses before he reached Gourin.

.But the joke was a grim and a cruel one for the charcoal-
burner's ears. His beasts, indeed, trotted merrily out the moment
the gates were opened, but he himself went forth to the lonesome
hill-side with the dread of a man driven to his doom. That very
night the wail of a wolf startled Annette in her dreams, and quicker
than lightning to her thoughts came the visage of the charcoal-
burner pleading for protection at the gates of the Hermitage ;
and as, again and again, the dismal howling was answered by other
wolves near and around the circuit of the walls, she could not help
fearing the poor fellow's forebodings would be realised to the
bitterest end. Yet, though safe as within the walls of a fortress,

286 WOLF-HUNTING.

in listening to the weird cry of the brutes, a chill of awe
penetrated to her very marrow, and she could no more have slept
during that hideous concert, broken as it was at intervals by the
savage uproar of the hounds, than if the walls of the Hermitage
had been assaulted by a band of brigands. At length the sharp
report of a gun, that rang through the building, brought the serenade
abruptly to a close, and effectually scared the brutes, at least for
that night, away from the premises.

It was Annette who had fired the gun, her husband having
point-blank refused to rise from his bed, declaring, as she roused
him to do so, that the howling of the wolves was music to his
soul, and that he was right glad to find there were still a few left
for their sport another season. The window of their sleeping
apartment, however, formed in the outer wall, and looking out
on the forest, happened to be in close proximity to the larder, in
which the newly-slaughtered meat was hung, and this attraction
for the wolves' noses caused them to make frantic efforts to
clamber in at that recess ; and it was not until Annette had
twice seen the pricked ears of a wolf, as he clung by his claws
to the sill of the window, that she could summon courage to
seize her husband's gun, and fire it in the face of the assaulting
foe.

The next morning, on examining the ground, not a trace of
the wolves, beyond the indentation of their claws on the mossy
wall, could be anywhere seen, so steadily had the snow fallen
even till break of day. The layer could scarcely have been less
than two feet deep ; and, as there had been no wind to cause
it to drift and accumulate in particular spots, an uniform depth
of' snow had enamelled the whole country, and transformed its
withered, haggish old face into one of exceeding fairness and
dazzling beauty.

" Have you any idea how many they were ? " said Shafto,
interrogating Owen Mawr as to the night attack.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 287

" By their tongues, I should say not more than three or four
—probably an old bitch-wolf and a brace of young ones."

Annette, however, who, head and shoulders out of window,
was supervising the examination of the ground and wall, was of a
different opinion. " How can he know their number when, the
more the wolves howled, the louder he snored in answer ? I'll
be sworn there were a dozen at least knocking hard for admission
at this window."

That, of course, was an exaggerated estimate, suggested by
the fear and imagination of the woman, as there had been no
snow previously, nor weather bitter enough to cause the wolves
to pack for mutual help and more aggressive depredation. But
Shafto, pretending to accept Annette's view of the number, shook
his1 head ominously, and said, with a solemn air, " Then, I fear
me, that poor fellow and his ponies made a grand meal for the
brutes when they found themselves baulked by our walls."

" God forbid ! " said the woman, now stung to the quick at
the recollection of the merciless manner in which she and her
husband had treated the man. "If indeed such a fate has
befallen him, the Loup-garou will terrify my thoughts, awake or
asleep, to my dying day."

About an hour afterwards Owen Mawr was despatched to
Gourin, with instructions to inquire if the charcoal-burner had
arrived safely at that town, and if, as Shafto himself much
doubted, the ponies had been equally fortunate; for, if the
wolves had attacked them, the man would have been utterly
powerless to protect all his four little beasts with a box of
lucifer matches only, although, by standing over one, he might
possibly save its life from the cowardly brutes. Not a scrap of
intelligence, however, could Owen gain of the man and his ponies
at Gourin ; neither he nor they had been seen in the town since
they had quitted it on the previous day ; nor could any tidings
be gleaned from the gendarmes, who were at once started in

288 WOLF-HUNTING.

search of the man, by order of the chief officer commanding
that force.

A whole week had elapsed with a similar result — no news of
the charcoal-burner — during which time the conscience-smitten
alarm of Annette and the misgivings of her husband would have
been painful to witness, if Shafto's faith and argument had not
assured us that in all probability neither the man nor his ponies
had been attacked at all. " For," said he, " I looked at my
watch when Annette fired off the gun — it was then three o'clock ;
and as the wolves of the neighbouring forest, attracted by the
fresh meat, certainly passed the livelong night under our walls,
it is quite clear that they, at least, could have had nothing to
do with the charcoal-burner's disappearance after he quitted our
gates. To rny mind, the long serenade they gave us is a sufficient
alibi in their favour to acquit them of this charge."

On the seventh day after that memorable night Shafto, by
St. Prix's especial request, had taken his hounds to the forest
of Glomel, to kill, if possible, a wolf that had been doing great
damage to the cattle of the Count de Saisy's tenants. This
forest lay due east of the Hermitage, near Rostrenen, on the
northern slope of the Black Mountains \ and although, from one
point to the other, the distance could not have been less than
four leagues, we found ourselves — men, horses, and hounds — at
the cover-side at half-past eight o'clock, soon after the break of
day. There was still a thin layer of snow covering the earth,
so the piqueurs did their work with little difficulty, bringing back
a goodly list of the rough game that had gone into lair during
the night, namely, badger, fox, chevreuil, and one old wolf — the
latter, from his broad splay fleet and long claws, being, without
a doubt, the culprit on whose doom we were bent. Accordingly,
by the help of the snow and a couple of rare tufters, we soon
roused him from his slumber, and in less than half an hour six
couple more were hard at him, waking up the old woods with

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 289

a roar of melody. Before, however, the sharpest of the peasants
could reach the far end of the forest, the wily brute had broken
cover, and like an arrow had gone straight away for Pontargoned
and the great forests beyond Huelgoet.

The scent was too good to stop them, so there was nothing
for it but to follow the hounds as we best could to that vast
woodland ; and luckily, the roads, proving more favourable than
usual, enabled us to catch an occasional view of them as they
broke into open ground or topped a hill on their onward course.
But now arose a difficulty with which, in that labyrinth of cover,
it was hopeless to contend. No sooner had the hounds reached
the dense portion of it that lies on the Monts d'Arree side, than a
brace of fresh wolves were roused, and from that moment Shafto,
Keryfan, and I did our utmost to stop the hounds. This, how-
ever, was no easy task, and but for the accidental help of some
peasants engaged in felling timber and clearing the brushwood,
it would probably have been more than our jaded horses would
have enabled us to accomplish.

While thus engaged, an unexpected but a very welcome
object, in the form of a man, emerged from a turf cabin hard
by. This was no other than the lost charcoal-burner, who, little
aware of the intense anxiety occasioned by his disappearance,
was somewhat surprised at the warm greeting he met with from
our party. His story was soon told. On quitting the Hermitage,
he had travelled but a short distance before he fell in with a
company of woodmen proceeding to Pontargoned ; and, being
persuaded by them to take a share of the labour in which they
were engaged, he had struck in, and from that day followed the
vocation at which we had found him. On hearing the glad
tidings of the man's safety, Annette's relief can scarcely be
described, and the following night — the first for a whole week,
as she declared — were her dreams undisturbed by the terrible
Loup-garou.

290 WOLF-HUNTING.

CHAPTER XXV.

IT was a terrible dusting the old wolf gave us that day at
Pontargoned ! So beaten were some of the leading hounds that
getting them home to their kennel at all that night was a business
of no little patience and labour. Indeed, but for the help of our
hunting-thongs, attached to their couples, by which we were able
to lift them along through the miry lanes, many a time would
they have curled themselves up by the wayside, and abandoned
the painful journey in despair. When the Hermitage was at
length reached, it must have been forty-eight hours afterwards
ere a single hound ventured to stretch his limbs or show a nose
outside his barrique; Annette, however, taking care to supply
each one with food as he lay, too weary to rise, recruiting his
lost power and indulging in the warmth and comfort of his ferny
couch. The horses, too, were even more beaten than the hounds,
Shafto's stout old hunter, Mirabeau, refusing his corn for a week
afterwards, and my cob being miserably tucked up in the flank,
and looking more like a "garran" than the compact, light-
stepping steed he was when I first brought him wolf-hunting into
these parts. Bad grooming, cold stables, and long distances
home after the sport of the day was over, were of course the
chief causes of this change ; for I took especial pains myself to
see that his daily rations of corn and hay were regularly supplied,
the oats being very dry and of the best quality, although, from

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 291

their being thrashed on the bare ground where they grew, the
dirt and grit intermixed with them detracted considerably from
their weight, and rendered the use of the sieve an absolute
necessity. My groom, a trusty Breton, knew more about milking
a cow than strapping and feeding a horse ; but if he had been
skilled as one of Scott's stable-boys, the usually wretched accom-
modation, in the form of draughty, undrained hovels, in which
a bar only separates one horse from another, and through which
the winds career as through a windmill, would have defied his
utmost efforts to keep a horse, doing hard work, in good form
and condition. I allude, however, to the stables of the country
inns, not to those of private houses, and to a time when the
interior of Brittany was almost as little known by foreigners as
Namaqua Land is at the present day.

A wolf, unless crippled, will rarely go to ground, however
pressed by hounds, or however tempted by the hollow character
of the country : he keeps going so long as he can stand ; and,
although shier and wilier than most beasts of the forest, he is up
to none of the dodges in chase practised by the hare, the fox, and
the sinking stag. That day at Pontargoned and Huelgoet he
might have gone to ground a hundred times into one of the
numerous lead-mines, shafts, and caves with which that district
abounds. So frequent and- so deceptive were some of the old
shafts, being covered with wood long perished and utterly unsafe,
that it was only by a sharp look-out we were able to steer clear
and avoid those hidden pitfalls scattered around us on every side.
Keryfan, indeed, had a very narrow escape, his horse scrambling
over one, as the whole fabric of the woodwork gave way and fell
with a crash into the abyss below ; and sunk as some of these pits
are to a depth of several hundred feet into the silurian rocks, it must
have proved a fatal fall to both, if the steed, with wondrous
activity, had not gained a secure footing on the opposite bank.
There are instances on record, however, which indicate that such

292 WOLF-HUNTING.

accidents have happened with impunity both to man and hors"e ;
and as two of these have occurred to gentlemen in the West of
England, and can be authenticated by witnesses alive at the
present day, they are well worthy of being chronicled in these
pages, and rescued from the oblivion to which otherwise they
would soon be inevitably consigned.

The first accident took place with Mr. George Templer's
hounds, the famous " Let-'em-alones," which kept the South
of Devon alive for so many years, before a regular pack of
foxhounds was established in that division of the county. A
fox had been found in Bovey Heathfield — a district in which
coal-pits had been sunk in former days, but which, being long
abandoned, were covered over with boughs of trees to prevent the
farm-stock from breaking their necks. The scent was first-rate,
and the hounds trimming him at a rattling pace, when the
Rev. Henry Taylor, one of the finest horsemen ever known in
that or any other country, in landing over a fence, found his
horse's hind-quarters giving way, and only able to save himself
from falling backwards by a tremendous effort with his fore-legs.
He was riding his celebrated "Nunky" at the time ; and instantly
being aware that Mr. William Ley was coming at the fence close
on his heels, he shouted wildly at him to hold hard, and avoid
the coal-pit into which he had himself well-nigh fallen. But the
warning came too late, and either was not heard or was dis-
regarded : over they shot and down they went, horse and rider,
head foremost into the pit, the whole frame of the woodwork
giving way under the weight, and falling before them into the
gulf below. This probably saved their lives ; the mass of soft,
decayed wood acting as a buffer, and easing the force of the
final concussion. However that may be, neither the man nor
the horse were even bruised seriously by the fall ; for, unlike
Marcus Curtius of old, by the help of a few ropes they not only
reappeared speedily in the land of the living, but did not quit

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 293

the hunting-field till the hounds went home to their kennel.
This anecdote was told to the present narrator by the Rev. Henry
Taylor himself — alas ! long since summoned to the "Land o' the
leal " — a man who would have gone to the stake, aye, and fired
it with his own hand, rather than have told a lie.

The other casualty is still more remarkable. In 1848 two
gentlemen, meeting by appointment on Roborough Down, soon
came to terms in dealing for a clever little bay mare called
" Jingalina," the one buying her, as she stood, with saddle and
bridle on, and the other walking back, a distance of eight miles,
to his home and heronry on the blue Tamar. The latter was
Mr. Walter C. Radcliffe of Warleigh, the other the Rev. Richard
Sleeman, vicar of Whitchurch, in that neighbourhood. Jingalina's
previous history, however, claims a few words ere we proceed to
the details of her marvellous escape, the account of which shall
be given in the written and expressive language of her quondam
owner, Mr. Radcliffe. She had carried him for two seasons
with admirable safety and endurance, chiefly with Mr. Russell's
hounds, in the north of Devon, and occasionally with those of
the Duke of Beaufort. In a brilliant run with the latter from
Hullavington to Cirencester, poor John Baily and Mr. Radcliffe
on Jingalina had far and away the best of it from first to last ;
the little mare going home as merrily as if she had been only
doing her morning exercise. Notwithstanding her merits, how-
ever, Mr. Radcliffe, being about to travel abroad, found it
expedient to part with her, and she then passed into Mr. Sleeman's
hands.

One morning, not long after this event, that gentleman's
groom, a man called John Cowell, who had been exercising
Jingalina and another horse on Whitchurch Down, returned with
a rueful countenance to his master, saying, " Plaize, sir, I've a-lost
the mare : " and all he could explain was that she had suddenly
gone down into the earth, clean out of sight. Mr. Sleeman

294 WOLF-HUNTING.

hurried at once to the spot ; and, finding the mare was alive,
proceeded to a neighbouring mine, and procured the help of
several men with shears, pulleys, and ropes. A man then volun-
teered to go down, stuck a candle in his hat with a lump of clay,
and was lowered to a considerable depth ; but, his heart failing
him, he shouted out to be pulled up again, declaring, as he came
to grass (a miner's term), that the air was so foul he could not live
below.

Another man, however, whose heart was in a better place,
enquired if the mare was alive ; and, on being told she was, said
confidently : " Then, if she can live, I can ; so lower away, my
lads : " and down he went fourteen fathoms — eighty-four feet He
was down some time, and at length the signal came to " Pull up ;"
and up he came. " The mare," said the man, " is resting on her
tail, with her fore-legs reared against the side of the shaft. There
is a deal of slush and water, but I managed to fix the rope with a
timber-hitch round some part of her body. So, all hands, haul
away ! " Eighteen stalwart men then set to work ; and, in a
minute or two, up she came to the grass-bank, whinnied and
neighed when she saw the light, and was on the point of being
released from the rope, when suddenly, either from curiosity to see
the mare, or some other cause, the men let go their hold ; and,
not being fairly landed, down she went again with the running
rope to the very bottom of the pit.

Sleeman was now in despair. Indeed, from the first he had
given up the mare as lost ; but he was now certain she must be
dead. However, the men were for making one more trial ; and
finding the rope fast to something, they hauled away, and up
came the mare for the second time, the running noose being
firmly fixed round her fore-pastern joint. Safely landed this time,
she got up, shook herself, and walked home to her stable, without
a serious scratch. After this event Mr. Sleeman rode the mare
with hounds for fifteen seasons ; and then, when done for hunting,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 295

drove her on easy journeys, and bred from her ; one of her
foals, by Nutshell, who was by Nutwith, being ridden at the
present time by a lady, a very pretty one too, in the neighbour-
hood of Plymouth. Jingalina must have been over thirty years
old when she died; and oftentimes during Mr. Sleeman's pos-
session of her the sum of ;£ioo offered for the mare would not
tempt him to sell her. " No," he would say ; " she and I have
seen so many adventures together, I can't part with Jingalina."

At the time of the accident a very young lady, the cousin of
Mrs. Sleeman, was riding a pony on one side of the groom, while
Jingalina disappeared on the other. That lady is now the wife
of a clergyman residing just three miles from Folkestone, and
from her own lips, in the summer of 1873, imprinted as all the
circumstances are, ineffaceably on her memory, I heard Mr.
Radcliffe's written account corroborated to the very letter; he
having had it " from his dear, staunch, true old friend, Dick
Sleeman, a matter-of-fact man, too fearless to prevaricate, too
honest to lie."

Of all sports of the field known to a Breton, that of wolf-
hunting is by far the most engrossing ; to St. Prix it was the
grand passion of , his life; and, consequently, the preservation of
a sufficient stock of game for hunting being ever uppermost in
his thoughts, he spared neither expense nor trouble in quietly
promoting that object among the landowners he could trust
throughout the vast district over which his authority as Louvetier
extended. But, owing to the serious depredations so often com-
mitted by the wolves, it required no little tact, and sometimes no
trifling expenditure, on his part to keep the community in good
humour on this point ; nevertheless, having no keepers to deal
with, he managed the matter admirably. Among the peasantry
not a shadow of suspicion ever crossed their minds that -his
hounds were kept for any other purpose than that of destroying
the noxious brutes infesting the land; and this impression was

296 WOLF-HUNTING.

most natural, seeing that no sufferer appealed to him in vain, and
that in pursuing a wolf he meant killing him, and rarely failed in
doing so, if he had been guilty of any daring outrage or had
acquired an especial ill-fame among the country-folk. This being
the rule of the Louvetier, it was impossible to question the bona
fide manner in which he fulfilled the duties of his office, which,
if it provided him and his friends with a wild and attractive
sport, contributed in no small degree to the public good. Yet
he looked on a she-wolf late in the season as a master of hounds
in this country looks on a vixen in February ; and no rat-catcher,
professing to clear a barn of its rats, but somehow or other
allowing the heavy-with-young to escape his clutches, could do
his work more adroitly than St. Prix when a she-wolf in a similar
condition was roused by his hounds.

Under these circumstances, Shafto, who had been brought
up with a full knowledge of the conventional laws that govern
fox-hunting in England — laws which for moral force might laugh
to scorn those of Draco — was scrupulously particular in deferring
to the Louvetier's wishes in all matters relating to the chase of
the wolf and the boar ; and as already, by the help of Kergoorlas'
and Shafto's hounds, a larger number of heads and hides had been
accounted for than in any previous season since the appointment
of St. Prix to that office, our forest bill of fare was restricted to
the pursuit of smaller game, of which there was certainly no lack
in the immediate neighbourhood.

The woodcock, which before the commencement of the snow
had been scattered broadcast over the vast covers, whether
stretching upwards to the highest ridge of the Black Mountains
or down into the hollow and sheltered valleys below, were now
driven to a limited area kept open in well-known spots by warm
springs and running water — a concentration that enabled us to
find every cock in the country with one old setter, belled for
the purpose, and taught to break point and flush his game at the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 297

command of the gunner. As is usual, however, with woodcock
on the occasion of hard frost or a heavy fall of snow, great
numbers of them, impelled by the strong instinct of self-preserva-
tion, migrate at once into lower latitudes, winging their way in
the gloom of night to the islands and southern shores of the
Mediterranean Sea, where, as many a British soldier knows, they
are to be found in great abundance at certain times. While the.
snow lasted, our bag averaged twelve couple a day, with a few
teal and duck to vary the sport. But every day the cock grew
scarcer and scarcer ; and at the end of ten days many a mile of
boggy ground might be traversed without flushing a single cock,
" the whole fabric of them," as old Cleave, a famous keeper at
Tetcott, used to say, "having been destroyed by guns and
springles, or gone to a happier land."

But, as the cock fell off, the wildfowl, duck and teal especially,
harassed by the cold blustering winds that followed the snow and
gave no rest on the sea-coast, dropped in plentifully — insomuch
that, unlike a cover, a brook supplying capital sport on one day
proved equally productive on the next, every evening and morn-
ing bringing in a succession of fresh arrivals from the adjoining
sea-shore. Nothing in the way of gunnery, to my mind, could
surpass this sport — not even cock-shooting, which, to the gunner,
is held to be what fox-hunting is to the hunter — so attractive were
the running streams, and so varying the incidents connected with
knocking down and recovering the wounded game.

About the tenth day after our arrival at the Hermitage, the
snow having entirely disappeared, a sharp frost set in ; the wind,
from N.E., being " forbiddingly keen " and cutting, and the hill-
tops a mass of ice. "This is the very weather for the Scae'r
brook," said Shafto, as he drew up the blinds of my bedroom
window, and in vain tried to clear away the fretwork of frost that
was encrusted on every pane • " the upper branch of the stream

298 WOLF-HUNTING.

will be alive with fowl, and Keryfan thinks with me that we
should be off at once, while the wind is so favourable."

" So do I," said I ; and not unmindful of the good old motto,
" Carpe diem" in a few seconds I was shaking the dewdrops in a
copious shower back into my tub ; and long before Keryfan had
finished curling his whiskers, both Shafto and I were hard at the
coffee and savoury dishes provided by the " neat-handed " Annette
for our morning repast.

Although, from the old town of Scae'r, the river Elle flows in
a southerly direction towards Quimperle and the broad Atlantic,
the main tributary of that stream, springing in the Montagnes
Noires, and locally called the Scaer brook, trends rather in a
westerly course ; and as it meanders for miles amid high banks
and lonely woods, and is verdant with aquatic weeds at all
seasons of the year, it not only supplies ample food to the fowl
that frequent it, but affords them a secluded shelter during the
prevalence of cold winds and nipping frost on the adjoining
coast Thither, then, for our day's sport we were preparing to
proceed with all despatch. But Keryfan was not to be hurried
either at his toilet or breakfast-table ; and though I chaffed him
with being more like the skid of a coach than either of its
fore-wheels, no badinage had the slightest effect either in stirring
him into quicker action or (I am bound to add) in ruffling his
easy temper.

" If he has taken an hour to dress, give him time to feed,
do," said Shafto, interposing as the host on Keryfan' s behalf;
" for however late we may be, the chances are we shall not see
a human being nor hear a shot fired for the day, except from
our own guns, in that secluded valley."

"Then," said Keryfan, "under those circumstances it would
simply be insane to quit this table in a hurry and go half-fed into
such a desolate wilderness ; " and as Annette had just brought in
a fresh dish of Cotelettes de chevreuil piping hot, he grasped his

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 299

knife and fork with renewed vigour, and never dropped them
again till he had finished the last cutlet. Dear old Keryfan —
but old only in the language of love — he was certainly difficult
to move when his head was in the manger, and engaged in the
important business of taking in his complement of stock when
a day's work was before him, but still more difficult to stir if he
was sacrificing to the Graces, by paying tribute (which he held
to be the first duty of man) to his sacred person. Yet, once
afield and in pursuit of game, who could beat him, no matter how
rough the work nor how long the day ? His dawdling, luxurious,
and even lazy habits at home presented, in truth, a strange
contrast to those he exhibited in the forest or on the mountain
side, where, keen as a sparrow-hawk after his prey, his energy
and perseverance seemed never to flag, his passion for the chase
never to grow cold.

We then started for the stream; and, although we stepped
along briskly, it took an hour and a half ere we hit the nearest
bend of it — our course over the pathless wilds being impeded by
rock and heather, copse and broom, throughout the whole dis-
tance ; and yet that distance, to judge by the eye, could not have
been more than a league and a half at most. We then divided
forces, Shafto taking downstream with Owen Mawr, who carried a
carnassiere over his shoulder big enough to bag a wolf, while
Keryfan and I turned upwards, with my Breton servant, Noel
Postollec, in attendance on us.

Duck and teal were more plentiful than I ever saw them on
fresh-water before ; and the only precaution necessary for getting
at them was to keep clear of the banks on the straight reaches,
and come in suddenly upon the pools in the bends of the river,
where they were too busy in nozzling for their food to hear the
sound of our approaching footsteps. The first pool we drew pro-
duced a couple of duck which rose under the muzzle of Keryfan' s
gun • up went the piece deliberately to his shoulder, and giving

3oo WOLF-HUNTING.

the game, as he was wont, fair law, he drew first one trigger, then
the other. Both caps exploded, but failed to ignite the powder,
and instantly the duck, with a quack of delight at their escape,
were winging their way in wild flight beyond the range of my two
barrels. An ejaculation not usual with Keryfan, and certainly not
fit for ears polite, burst from his lips, as he followed the birds with
his eye, marvelling at their luck, and reprobating his own in no
measured tones. " It's the old story," he went on — " trusting to
another what I suppose I ought to do myself— namely, clean my
own gun : it's what you, Frank, always do for yourself, and I am
coming to the conclusion that, with all the dirt, it is the right thing
to do in the end."

" No doubt about that," I replied. " No less than three
personal friends of my own have had their forefingers and thumbs
shattered by the explosion of their powder flasks, owing entirely
to the careless way in which their guns had been cleaned. A bit
of tow remains behind in the breech, and either the gun misses
fire, or worse consequences ensue on reloading the discharged
barrel."

A good hour was lost ere we could get Keryfan's gun into
shooting order again ; and I think it will teach him a lesson of
self-dependence- which he will not readily forget. The Faucheux
breech-loaders were then only known to a few, even in France — a
great boon as regards time saved in cleaning, safety, and rapidity
in loading, and other advantages. For the first half-hour or so
we could hear the roar of Shafto's heavy gun ringing constantly
through the woods ; but either he killed what he shot at, or the
fowl winged seawards, for not a head came up to enliven the
dull hour wasted over Keryfan's gun. At length we were off
again ; and from that time till the shades of night made it a hard
matter to see even a duck on the wing between your gun-barrel
and the dark woods in the background, we scarcely passed a bend
in the brook without springing duck or teal, the latter numbering

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 301

as many as five or six in a cluster, the former rarely exceeding a
couple or a leash at a time.

It often happens that in shooting, "the first blow is half
the battle," and if a man begins badly, he is very apt to go on
so throughout the day. But, happily, Keryfan's contretemps at
starting in no wise affected his nerves afterwards. We had
arranged to shoot the bends alternately first, and four times in
.succession he killed his right and left at duck, without giving me
a chance to help him in the matter ; though, when a leash rose,
the crumb necessarily fell to my lot. In the midst of our sport,
a mallard I had shot at and wounded made the best of his way,
high in the air, direct for the sea. Suddenly, however, a pirate
hove in sight in the form of a peregrine falcon, and, darting after
the mallard, like a fleet greyhound after a beaten deer, struck it
so fierce a blow in the nape of the neck, that the quarry was
instantly paralysed, and fell like a rag to the earth, literally

"Decidit exanimis, vitamque reliquit in astris
Ae'riis "

Noel, who picked up the bird stone-dead, baulked the pirate
of his prey ; yet, after the closest examination, no marks of
violence could be detected about the head or neck ; and if we
had not witnessed the coup with our open eyes, our little jury must
have pronounced an open verdict as to the cause of death.

Although on several occasions we managed to floor more than
a brace of teal at a rising, the duck, so generally found in couples
only, afforded by far the prettiest shooting ; they certainly did not
slip away so rapidly as the smaller bird ; and, presenting from
their larger size an easier mark, Keryfan missed but one for the
day ; that, however, with one of Eley's green cartridges in my left
barrel, I was lucky enough to kill after him at a distance of nearly
seventy yards. On rejoining Shafto at a small auberge on the
road between Scaer and Gourin, our two Bretons compared notes

3o2 WOLF-HUNTING.

— the carnassiere of Owen Mawr being full to repletion, while
Noel, who had slung the game over his shoulders and around his
waist, fairly staggered under the weight, and looked, enveloped as
he was in feathers, more like a mythological harpy, with a man's
face and the body of a vulture, than like a human being. How-
ever, we soon adjusted the load more equally among the whole
party ; and leaving enough to maintain the poor aubergiste and
his family for a whole week, with two couple of duck and teal for
the Cure, whom the aubergiste described as un brave gar^on, we
struggled back through heather and broom ; and if, as we gained
the gates of the Hermitage, the leg-labour had been somewhat
wearisome, we had, at least, nothing to complain of in the fine
day's sport we had so thoroughly enjoyed.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 303

CHAPTER XXVI.

MEANING to stay only ten days or a fortnight at the Hermitage,
Keryfan and myself were one morning busily preparing for our
departure as the latter period drew near, when, Shafto catching
sight of the grand portmanteau mounted on a couple of chairs,
and Keryfan superintending Annette in the arrangement of its
internal compartments — numerous as those of pea-green Hayne's
dressing-case — pressed us so earnestly not yet to desert him, that
we gladly consented to hold on for another fortnight ; and accord-
ingly the portmanteau, with its fancy buckles and brass studs, was
shunted forthwith to a position less suggestive of departure than
that of the supporting chairs ; namely, to the vacant space
underneath its proprietor's own bed.

But the fortnight too soon came to an end, and towards the
last day or two of our stay at these hospitable quarters we were
looking for redlegs in some broomy ground on the south side of
the mountain, when, just as we had sprung a covey of eight birds,,
out of shot, a French chasseur, with a Breton servant, hove in
sight, and, coming directly towards us, indicated that he had
marked in the whole covey, and would have great pleasure in
conducting us to the remise, which lay in a hollow valley at least
half-a-mile away. This most polite, and, as we thought at the
time, most disinterested offer was of course thankfully accepted ;
and trudging on in company together we discovered that the

304 WOLF-HUNTING.

stranger was an officer, whom we had met at Concarneau, and
that he had wandered thus far in search of game, which, owing
to the garrison and braconniers, had become lamentably scarce
in the neighbourhood of that seaport. The remise proved to be a
patch of close, stubby gorse, in which the birds would be quite
certain to lie dead as stones ; for it was impossible they could run
a yard in such a cover, wont, as their habit is, to give leg-bail when
there is a chance of doing so ; and as even the setters found it a
difficult matter to force their way through the prickly mass, Shafto
suggested that we should form line and tread it out piecemeal, as
the only mode of getting the birds to rise from so strong a place.

Accordingly we proceeded at once to adopt this plan; and
the strange chasseur, whom we afterwards discovered to be a
Capitaine Rainault, was offered, as a point of etiquette, his
choice of position, right or left wing, or centre, whichever he
preferred. To our great surprise, however, he stoutly refused
to use his gun; but, at the same time volunteered to help in
beating up the game, insisting that, as we had found the covey
in the first place, the privilege of shooting it belonged exclusively
to us. But Keryfan, whose good-nature would not permit him
to take advantage of the stranger's scruples, planted himself in
the old palaver attitude, and proceeded deliberately to argue the
point on the very edge of the gorse. " Good," said he ; " we
certainly were the first to find the birds, but, in all probability,
we should never have seen them again if you had not kindly
interposed and given us this information ; so pray consider that
you are fairly entitled to share the sport with us."

His rhetoric, however, was of little use ; for the Captain,
handing his gun to the Breton servant, and taking possession
•of his staff, jumped into the gorse, saying jauntily, as he did so,
that he wished to take a lesson in shooting from the English
chasseurs, of whose exploits such marvellous accounts had
reached the Concarneau garrison. The cover was then drawn

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 305

carefully, and seven out of the eight birds bagged in so many shots ;
the eighth would probably have shared the same fate had he not
risen wildly at a long distance, and so escaped. An outburst of
applause from the Captain, followed the success of every shot ;
and so enthusiastic was the spirit in which he entered into the sport,
that if the setters had not been too quick for him, he would have
saved them the trouble of retrieving the game as it fell dead or
fluttering into the prickly gorse. No schoolboy out for a holiday,
or on a poaching excursion, could have been more eager to
handle his birds than he was j then he arranged their feathers,
admired the beautiful plumage on the breasts of the cock-birds,
and finally, ere depositing them in the carnassiere, which Owen
Mawr pointedly held wide open, he declared they were the finest
red-legs he had ever seen in Brittany.

All the while there was so much simplicity in his manner that
it was impossible to suspect he had any ulterior object in view
beyond the mere admiration of the birds and the love of sport ;
added to which, although he continued to work like a day labourer
in beating for us, he steadily still refused to use his gun for the
rest of the day. So, altogether, we were not a little puzzled to
account for the unusual, and, in the matter of shooting, the disin-
terested part he took during the time he remained in our com-
pany. But the secret came out in five minutes after he had
quitted us for Concarneau. Shafto, having insisted on his carry-
ing back with him a good portion of the game, proceeded forth-
with to pack the modest and empty carnassiere borne by the Breton
attendant full to the very brim; and not only did the Captain
offer no objection to this measure, but his eyes sparkled with
delight as he stood by and watched Shafto cramming bird after
bird into the bag, till it positively could not have held another
head. He then, after many protestations of gratitude and kindly
feeling, bid us adieu, and went on his way rejoicing.

In the meantime the Breton had revealed to Owen Mawr that

3o6 WOLF-HUNTING.

long as he had followed him, he had never seen the Captain kill a
single head of game \ that, day after day, he fired away more
powder and shot than any officer at Concarneau, but all in vain ;
and that his very dogs had forsaken him, disgusted with his mal-
practice. " And I, too," added the Breton, " would have done
the same long since, if I had not been well paid for enduring the
tantalising sight." This inability, then, on his part, was the sole
ground on which he declined to use his gun in our company ; and
intensely as he enjoyed the sport of seeing the birds knocked
down, his consciousness of being unable himself to add to the bag
impelled him altogether to abstain from shooting rather than run
the risk of exposing himself to our ridicule.

On returning towards the Hermitage, as we clambered over a
piece of rocky ground forming a kind of crest to an old oak
forest that stretched away for miles in the vale below, the setters
suddenly came on a wild cat, which, quick as lightning, managed
to dodge in and out of the rocks, and finally to take refuge in the
trunk of a hollow tree before we could get even a snap-shot at it.
Shafto alone had viewed the animal ; and, as it was evidently on
a marauding expedition among the conies that frequented these
rocks, he did his utmost to induce one of the dogs to enter the
tree and bolt the beast from his stronghold. But the dog knew
too well the danger of putting his nose into such hot quarters, and
prudently kept it outside. Shafto, however, determined not to be
beaten, commenced rolling some large stones against the butt of
the tree, till he had fairly blocked up every cranny by which the
brute could escape. " Now then," said he, puffing and panting
under his labour, " methinks he'll keep till morning, when we'll
smoke him out or cut down the tree if that won't stir him."

" And of course you'll shoot him as he bolts," said Keryfan,
who was seated on a boulder hard by, quietly smoking his pipe,
and marvelling at the strength and adroitness which Shafto had
displayed in completing the blockade. "When Ajax, the son

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 307

of Telamon, hurled the ponderous rock at Hector that crushed
his buckler and brought the hero to his knees, I doubt much,"
continued Keryfan, " if it was half as heavy as that last millstone
you have just added to the cairn."

"Safe bind, safe find," said Shafto; "and now it would puzzle,
I think, his big Bengal brother to break out of that prison in any-
thing less than twenty-four hours. But we won't shoot the
varmint — no, with a few minutes' law he'll give the hounds
some trouble to catch him in the rocky cover below ; and, as
the brute will probably make the best of his way back to his old
haunts, he may show us some more of his family ere we have
quite done with him."

So the next morning we were at him again, and this time with
three couple of hounds, a hatchet, a crowbar, and a bundle of
crackers, manufactured by Keryfan expressly for the work. But
these last, as it happened, were not required ; for no sooner were
the rocks removed by the application of the crowbar, and the
aperture fairly laid bare, than, with one stroke of the hatchet,
out dashed the cat almost in Shafto's face, its eyes flashing fire,
and every hair on its short tail bristling up like the crest on a
boar's neck. Nothing so wild and scared in its look and action
had ever been seen by me before or since ; but so rapid were
its movements, that it was impossible to catch more than a
glimpse of the brute as it shot, like a meteor, into the scrub
below. Shafto then looked at his watch, and when five minutes
had elapsed, sounded the signal to let go the hounds; but in
consequence of their eagerness to be quit of the couples, and
Owen's delay in liberating them, a good ten minutes' law was
obtained by the cat ere they were clapped upon the scent. This,
however, proved rather to be a help than an impediment to the
sport, for, in consequence of the cat's incarceration, the scent
emitted by the brute was tenfold stronger than it would other-
wise have been had it been found at large ; and thus, from the

3o8 WOLF-HUNTING.

impetuous dash with which the hounds pursued it, the cat, with
less law, would have probably taken to tree immediately. As it
was, a rattling good run for an hour or more, from Pen-kerrig
Hill to the lowest point of the Kilvern covers, was the fortunate
result. The cat then, being apparently beaten, sought refuge
under the roots of a gigantic alder-tree which, half-uprooted,
fairly bridged over the brook that fretted and foamed 'neath its
shade. From the worn condition of its upper bark, the tree had
evidently been long used as a crossing-place during the prevalence
of floods, not only by the peasantry, but probably by the wild
animals frequenting the adjoining forests ; and the cat, in seeking
refuge under its roots, could scarcely have chosen a stronger
holt.

The hounds turned to and marked uproariously, working with
teeth and claws as if they would tear up the tree. But while
they are thus engaged, let me relate an anecdote which, in the
matter of securing the cat for the night and turning it out before
the hounds in the morning, comes freshly to mind on the present
occasion. Peter Horsall, a well-known squire and justice of the
peace, living within a short distance of the wildest coast of the
south of Devon, was on a winter's evening entertaining a party
of friends at dinner, when the cry of " A wreck ! " rung through
his hall, and a man rushed breathlessly into the dining-room to
announce, with the exception of one living creature, the total loss
of a foreign ship and its crew.

"And what creature is it?" inquired the justice, whose interest
as lord of the manor was naturally roused by these tidings.

" Plaize your worship," said the countryman, " 'tis a Jesuit.
Us have a caught 'un, and want to know what us be to do
with 'un ? "

" A Jesuit ! a Jesuit ! " repeated the puzzled squire, looking
round for imformation in vain to his equally puzzled guests ; and
at last, coming to the conclusion that it was some wild animal

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 309

from beyond the seas, he resolved on having a day's sport with
it, and thus gave his orders — " Shut 'un up in the barn, John,
for the night, and then/' said he, "us'll turn him out before the
hounds in the morning."

The schoolmaster at this period had evidently not penetrated
into that district. But to return to the sport. In the absence
of a terrier it was found impossible for some time to bolt the
cat, till at length Keryfan hit upon a plan which, with a few
strokes of the hatchet, did the work most effectually. The alder
being supported on the opposite bank by one of its limbs only,
and that not a very bulky one, it was evident, if this prop was
cut away, that the weight of the tree would bring it bodily to
the ground, and, by tearing up the roots, would expose the cat
to the open attack of the hounds. Accordingly, a few vigorous
strokes severed the propping limb, and, instantly following, down
came the mighty tree level with the waters ; at the same moment
out shot the cat, like a scared fiend, and, plunging into the
brook, attempted to gain the opposite bank. But its efforts
were vain : the hounds were on it, and in the space of two
minutes the stripy wild beast, than which I scarcely ever saw a
handsomer, was torn into " a hundred tatters of brown."

That night we had the company of a French gentleman at
the Hermitage, who loudly deplored the waste committed by the
loss of the skin and body of the cat. " I can understand your
regretting the loss of the skin," I said, " because you turn all
skins so adroitly to account in your country, but am puzzled to
know what use you would have made of the body."

" Puzzled ? " he replied, as if wondering at my simplicity.
" Well, sir, it would have made a delicious ragoAt, and with far
more flavour than that of the finest wild rabbit."

" What ! eat a cat ? " I ejaculated, with an air of disgust
which, I fear, I took no pains to conceal.

" Yes," he said ; " I have shot and eaten many, and would

3 1 o WOLF-HUNTING.

strongly recommend you to try the next you kill ; but, of course,,
you should cut off the head first, and then hang up the carcase
in a fig-tree to mellow and make it tender."

Here, then, was the very trite motto, " Chacnn a son gout?
exemplified to the letter ; and although at first I thought he was
hoaxing me, I had afterwards ample proof that his statement was
nothing more nor less than the naked truth.

Shafto, by his long residence among the French, had himself
become an accomplished cook, and, with Annette for his scullery-
maid, could manufacture various dishes, and especially soups,
with consummate art and proficiency. The latter, so far as I
am able to judge, is usually a less generous mixture among our
neighbours on that side of the channel, probably because our meat
is better, and less water is used in its composition. Shafto,
however, had a method in the concoction of soup which rendered
it unrivalled in strength and flavour by any I have ever tasted
at home or abroad. His plan was simply this for the week
round : A vast earthenware pot-au-feu stood simmering among
the embers of his wood-fire from morning to night and night to
morning, and was thus supplied, day after day, with the stock
and materials needful for producing and replenishing its contents.
On Monday, a shin of beef, say iolbs., simmered gently all day
in a gallon and a-half of water, Annette taking care to keep it
well skimmed, and about an hour before dinner adding the usual
vegetables.

On Tuesday, the vegetables being carefully extracted by
means of a colander, a brace of uncooked partridge and a little
fresh water were popped in to the beef, and the whole left to
simmer and amalgamate as on the day before.

On Wednesday, another brace of birds, roasted brown, with
water if required, were added to the pol-au-feu. On Thursday,
the character of the mixture was altogether changed by the
addition of a couple of woodcock or half-a-dozen snipe, which,

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 311

after simmering all day, imparted a most delicious gamy flavour
to the whole concoction. On Friday, what remained of the shin
of beef at the bottom was fished out, and a couple of rabbits
substituted for stock, water added if required : this, too, was
a soup than which no better was ever set before a London
alderman. Then on Saturday, the concoction assumed again a
totally changed colour and flavour : a fresh hare, with a handful
of peppercorns, was added to the ingredients, which, as they
now nearly filled the pot-au-fen with a variety of game, produced
a hare soup of the finest and most delicate character. The
amalgamation of the whole on Sunday was positively perfect ; but
as the debris of bone and meat accumulated upwards, Annette
at the last found some difficulty in expressing the liquor from
the mass below, although, as the palmer of old was wont to use
his scallop-shell when expressing water from the bibulous sand,
she managed with an iron ladle to squeeze up enough — the very
essence of game — to supply our wants. This ended the week.
The pot-au-feu was then emptied, and its contents fetched every
Monday morning by some poor peasant 'women occupying a
hamlet about a league from the Hermitage, to whom, doubtless,
the food must have proved little less than a God-send.

Having now given a long list of the most stirring events
connected with forest life in Brittany, I dare not inflict on the
reader a more minute detail of our daily adventures ; although,
among ourselves, sundry incidents were never wanting to mark
one day's sport from another, and to create an ever-varying
interest in the wild scenes by which we were surrounded in
that primitive country. But as there is one description of sport
to which hitherto no allusion has been made, namely, that of
wrestling — a sport ancient and popular among the Bretons of
Cornouaille — I propose in the next chapter to describe a meeting
that took place at Pleyben, where the athletes had assembled
in great force to compete for prizes and establish their prowess

312 WOLF-HUNTING.

in the wrestling ring. This non-forestal event, however, was
summer affair, and occurred many a long day after we had taken
leave of our self-exiled host and his strange isolated home at the
Hermitage.

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 313

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE people inhabiting Pleyben and the surrounding district are
probably as purely Breton as any in Lower Brittany • for there the
old Celtic ballads of the sixth century may still be heard at their
festive meetings, and there many a legend and many a quaint
custom, half pagan and half Christian, traceable even to an earlier
period, is still retained by the descendants of the ancient race with
singular tenacity and devotion. The manly game of wrestling,
too, of long standing in the country, is still to the fore; and
although they have had no Homer to chronicle the achieve-
ments of their antique heroes, long passed away, the names of
many such are still handed down from generation to generation,
and their prowess in the ring recorded with just pride throughout
the region of Cornouaille.

The very name of Ar Gourren, which is the Breton term for a
wrestling-match, indicates its classic origin, that being also the
Breton for the crown or prize awarded to the successful wrestler.
In the " Testamant Nevez," however, the word, as used by St.
Paul in reference to the Isthmian Games so well-known to the
Corinthians, is spelt Gunmen, which of course is a corruption of
corona, the crown bestowed on the victor in the athletic sports of
old Rome at a subsequent period, the translation being doubtless
made from a Latin rather than the Greek text into the Breton
language.

314 WOLF-HUNTING.

From the adoption of the word ar gourren, then, it may fairly
be inferred that the game of wrestling was derived from the
Romans who, in the time of Caesar, occupied in great numbers
the country of Armorica, when it was constituted a province and
called " Lugdunensis Secunda ; " but, from the still earlier visits
of the Phoenicians to that country, it may have had even an older
origin, though, as it has been already remarked, the Bretons have
had no ancient chronicler to record the fact. A comparatively
modern one, however, has informed us how, on the Field of the
Cloth of Gold, in the time of Francis I., a grand wrestling-match
took place between the French and English athletes ; and how,
when England gained the mastery, the greatest regret was ex-
pressed that the Bretons had not been sent for to oppose the
English, as they were deemed unconquerable champions in this
manly game. The accounts, too, of the treasurers to the Dukes
of Brittany constantly make mention of sums of money given to
their wrestlers ; it being the object of the Government to cultivate
the muscle and bodily strength of the people by such gym-
nastics.

Having so far referred to the antiquity of the sport in that
country, let me endeavour to describe a wrestling-match, such as
every summer may be seen at Pleyben, a small town in Finisterre,
nearly midway between Chateaulin and Chateauneuf-du-Faou.
To him, however, who has ever witnessed a gathering for the
like purpose in Cornwall or Devon, I cannot, I fear, hope to
contribute information either of a novel or startling character;
still, although the game may be somewhat similar, a strange
difference exists in the picturesque and mediaeval appearance
of a Breton assemblage from that of our Western counties.

On a favourable grass-plat, and under the shade of a clump of
chestnut-trees, the spectators were compelled to form a vast ring,
which, although unroped, was admirably kept by a staff of men
appointed for that purpose. These, answering in some degree to

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 315

our sticklers, twirled their whips and sticks with wondrous effect
in the face of the crowd ; and, besides maintaining the circle, per-
formed the further office of seeing fair play enacted between the
combatants. Then, the hubbub of the crowd as some favourite
champion stepped manfully into the ring, the shrill squeal of the
bagpipes and the rattle of the kettle-drums, created a din equalled
only for its discord by our betting-ring and race-course previous to
a grand event.

It is impossible to overstate the picturesque appearance of the
whole assembly, dressed, as the peasants were, men and women,
in the holiday costume peculiar to their own Communes. That
of the men, although varying in shape and colour, resembled the
fashion of dress worn in the sixteenth century rather than that
of the present or any previous age. There was the trunk-hose; the
round, short blue or claret-coloured jacket and vest, studded
with buttons ; the broad garnished leathern belt, encircling the
waist and secured by a metal buckle, often of silver, and huge
dimensions ; and, lastly, the broad-brimmed hat and flowing hair,
to finish the quaint picture. But how shall I describe the
wonderful caps of the women, especially those from Rosporden,
Elliant, and Pont 1'Abbe, in the neighbourhood of Quimper,
some of which were decorated with straw plaits and some with
point lace, very dingy and apparently very precious ? They must
be seen to be understood ; and that can best be done by a visit
to Quimper on a fete or a fair-day, when the Bretonnes from the
neighbouring Communes throng into the town in all the variety
of their gay coiffures, voluminous petticoats, and tight-fitting
bodices. But, strange to say, that chief ornament of a woman,
the hair, is carefully hidden under the cap, and is only revealed
to the Paris perruquier, who pays periodical visits to that country,
and for a small sum, often nothing more than a cotton pocket-
handkerchief, secures a tress of golden hair that shortly after
probably adorns the head of some proud duchess, and puts a

.3 1 6 WOLF-HUNTING.

ihandsome per-centage into the pocket of the wily trader. At
Lanvollon, near Port Rieux, an annual fair is held, to which the
peasant-maidens of C6tes-du-Nord and Finisterre resort in swarms;
.and there come too the Paris perruquiers, or their agents, to
bargain with them and carry away, for an old song, grand crops of
hair that have been growing, probably without much cultivation,
for many a previous year. With a sharp scissors and a practised
hand, three snips are sufficient to render the head a bare pole
in an instant. Expedition in the matter is important, as not
^infrequently after a bargain has been made, the lasses are wont
to repent and altogether decline the proposed operation.

But now to the ring. The Greek wrestlers went naked to
the fight, their bodies being well lubricated with oil, and sanded
afterwards to assist the grip of the hand ; but among the Bretons,
the combatants were at least decently attired, a close-fitting canvas
shirt enveloping the body, with the continuation of the bragon-
hose from the waist to the knee, and strong leggings thence to
the ankle. The head, however, presented a most grotesque
appearance : the long hair, having been carefully drawn back,
was plaited with coarse straw into a pig-tail, being less likely in
this form to become troublesome to its owner during the ups
and downs of the exciting struggle. This process, which is the
finishing touch to his toilet, a bystander performs for the com-
batant, who, on his knees, is receiving at the same time sage
counsel from a Nestor interested in his favour. He then springs
on his legs, and having selected the prize for which he is prepared
to contend, he stalks bare-footed round the ring, and with defiant
air challenges a rival to come forth and enter the lists against
him. Three times is he bound to repeat this ceremony; and if
at the last round no one is found valiant and strong enough to
oppose him, it is pronounced a " walk over," and he pockets the
prize. If, on the other hand, some daring competitor steps like
Ulysses into the arena, and touches the shoulder of this son of

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 317

Telamon, a ringing cheer bursts from the crowd, and both
heroes prepare forthwith for the encounter.

" Certain preliminaries, however, are still necessary before the
struggle actually begins. In order to give proof that no enmity
exists between them, the two combatants advance to the centre
of the ring, and, shaking hands cordially, swear that as they
commence the contest in a friendly spirit, so will they continue
to regard each other after the struggle is over. They then make
the sign of the cross, to indicate that they are Christians, and
have neither had recourse to witchcraft, enchanted herbs, nor
made compact with the devil, who, at the expense of their
eternal damnation, might give them superhuman strength for the
battle. This ceremony over, they and the crowd feel satisfied
that so far no foul play has been imported into the match, and
that the combatants go to work on equal terms."

They then seize each other, shoulder and hip, deliberately
and firmly ; and, with legs apart and foreheads fixed against
each other, like two rafters of a house, " each propping each,"
the beams of their backs fairly creak, and the sweat runs down
like rain, as, interlocked and with a lively use of the heel on,
the hollow of the knee, they tug, they strain, till at length one,,
more breathless and exhausted than the other, is uplifted bodily
in the air and thrown on the flat of his back heavily to the
ground.

The prize is then awarded to the victor ; not such, however,
as Achilles offered when Ajax and Ulysses strove in vain for the
mastery — not a fireproof tripod, valued at twelve oxen, to the
champion ; nor a damsel, valued at four oxen, to the vanquished ;
no, the first prize at Pleyben is simply a hat — fluffy, broad-
brimmed, and heavy as the helmet of a dragoon ; but yet con-
tended for with as much earnestness and honesty as if it had
been a crown of gold.

The wrestlers being barefooted, there was none of that savage

3i8 WOLF-HUNTING.

shin-kicking which, in the days of Cann and Polkinghorn, often
inflicted severe punishment on the legs of our West-country heroes ;
still, the back kick of the Breton, horny and hardened as the heel
is by its contact with the sabot, was no child's play, and served
frequently to help the man most adroit in its use to bring his
adversary to his knees and weaken the hold that seemed to root
him to the ground. Barring the hubbub of the bagpipes and
kettledrums, it was in every respect a quiet and orderly meeting ;
no drunkenness, no foul play, and no savage wrangling. Two or
three priests were present, and by their influence on the peasant
mind served, doubtless, to keep the crowd under salutary restraint
with respect to drink and licentious behaviour. I could not but
infer, too, from the little interest they took in the " play," that the
object of their attendance was rather to act as Censores morum
than from any wish to view the spectacle, or indicate partizanship
with any particular wrestler in his struggle for victory ; still, there
was a kind, pleasant-faced priest looking on whose eyes twinkled
luminously as one of his parishioners stepped out of the ring,
prize in hand, and followed by the plaudits of the admiring
crowd.

This intermixing of the clerical with the lay population, the
shepherds with the sheep of their flocks, in such innocent and
manly games, might be extended, I venture to think, with the
utmost advantage to both parties in other countries besides that
of Lower Brittany ; for, where excesses and bad language are
checked by the presence of a clergyman, there he cannot be out
of place, either in behalf of his own work or for the good of the
company in which he is found mixing. My old friend Bob
Buckstone thought so too, or, honest and conscientious as he was
in all that appertained to his duty as a curate, he never would
have devoted two days a week to the mere pastime of fox-hunting,
if he had not been convinced that his little parish, numbering but
thirty inhabitants, suffered no neglect from this practice ; that in the

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 319

field his presence, so far from giving offence to any, was welcomed
by all, and, moreover, had the quiet and unobtrusive effect of
checking the utterance of many a coarse word as it rose to the
lips of those around him. This was Bob's conviction, and, with
his love for the chase, hereditary and inborn as it was, well might
he say that "he only wished his whole life had been spent as
innocently and happily as in the hunting-field or on the river-
side."

Still, his bishop — a man who, by his zeal, industry, and
untiring activity did the work of ten ordinary men, and whose
eloquence, now, alas ! silent for ever, was wont to charm every
ear, patrician or proletarian — strongly objected to Bob's hunting
tendencies j and, with the hope of persuading or compelling him
to renounce them, he summoned him to his palace, where
accordingly on a stated day Bob made his appearance.

" I am told, Mr. Buckstone," said his lordship, very gravely,
" that you are in the habit of regularly joining a pack of fox-
hounds in your neighbourhood ; and such a practice being incon-
sistent with the sacred character of your office, I must beg you to
give me a distinct promise that you will renounce it at once so
long as you continue to be a curate in my diocese."

" My Lord," said Bob, with an air of remonstrance, but at
the same time with the utmost deference, " I neglect no duty ;
and my health, which is not strong, is greatly benefited by the
exercise. I have, too, but a cob pony to ride ; so I trust your
Lordship will not bind me to give a promise which some day I
may be tempted to break."

" And is your nature so weak and your passion for the chase
so strong," said the Bishop, somewhat sarcastically, "that not
only your word, but interests even of the highest import must
needs be sacrificed to such indulgence ? What was your reason
given you for, but to control your passion ? No, Mr. Buckstone,
let me have your promise, and be a man and keep it."

320 WOLF-HUNTING.

Now, Bob's spirit was a very independent one ; and to be
lectured as if he were a mere schoolboy was not exactly the most
judicious mode of dealing with him on this or any other subject.
But when he perceived the Bishop's temper was getting the better
of his reason, that sense of awe with which he had been inspired,
and which, at the commencement of the interview, had brought
an icicle to his nose, now vanished like a vapour ; and Bob,
writhing under the taunt, firmly refused to give the demanded
promise.

But the colloquy did not end there. It so happened that a
short time previously the newspapers had commented sharply on
the appearance of his Lordship at a grand ball given by the

Duchess of ; and the Bishop had written a letter to

explain that he had never entered the ball-room at all, but
had remained in the ante-room, with the sole object of enjoy-
ing the fine music performed by the band on the occasion.
This circumstance being fresh in Bob's memory, some imp of
mischief must have possessed his tongue when that " unruly
member " proceeded to say that, " if there was any moral tur-
pitude in the matter, there was at least as much in going to a
dance as in going to hounds."

The cap fitted at once ; and the Bishop, taken aback by this
counter-hit, instead of continuing to attack Bob's position, was
compelled to defend his own. " I know, of course, what you
allude to, Mr. Buckstone ; but I have already explained, and
again repeat, that I never entered the dancing-room, but remained
in another apartment enjoying the music."

" My Lord," said Bob, " your position and mine are precisely
similar : I delight in the music of the hounds, but am very seldom
in the same field with them."

The Bishop's gravity fairly gave way ; and feeling the parallel
was too accurate to be questioned, he dropped the subject, insist-
ing only that Bob should stay to luncheon with him ere he turned

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 321

on his homeward route. Before that meal was over Bob became
so charmed by the Bishop's good company that he begged his
Lordship's acceptance of his cob, an offer, however, which, it need
scarcely be added, was most graciously declined. Those two
men, the one a poor but honest curate, the other a magnate of
unrivalled ability, since that event have both been brought by one
sickle to the same level ; but who shall say which of the twain is
now the more exalted ?

When the wrestling at Pleyben had been brought to a close,
the bagpipes seemed suddenly inflated with fresh wind and
renewed vigour as they struck up a lively air, the. prelude
to a wonderful dance called the " Jabadao." It is the Breton
Fandango ; and though most popular among the Bretons pur
sang, it is utterly unknown beyond the region of Cornouaille.
No pen but that of a Frenchman, and he need be a master of
the art, could describe intelligibly the saltatory action, the
pirouettes, the jigging and figures of the dancers engaged in
the "Jabadao." From the name, which so nearly resembles
the Spanish word " Zapateo," or the knocking of sabots, the
dance probably owes its origin to that country, formerly and in
better days the land of song and dance ; but, if it does, the grace
and elegance said to distinguish the old Asturian " measure " have
certainly not descended to the " Jabadao/' as at present danced
by the Breton peasantry.

The priests, it should be added, were now no longer visible ;
the wild turn of the music and the passionate delight with which
the young men and maidens dashed into the dance had put them
to flight ; and, although there was nothing bordering on indecency
in the exhibition, the close contact of the couples and the
pirouettes performed by the lady, when her hand was passed
over her head, were enough to disturb the virtue of an anchorite.
So, perhaps, it was quite as well on their own account that they
did not stay to witness the " Jabadao."

Y

322 WOLF-HUNTING.

This dance, which is held in high contempt by the French
bourgeoisie, is not altogether confined to the peasant class of
Lower Brittany ; for it has been my lot to meet more than one
member of the old Breton noblesse, whose proficiency in footing
it was the talk of the country, and who, whenever the tunes
of the bagpipe invited them to a caper, never missed an oppor-
tunity of mingling with the peasants, and indulging their fancy in
this provincial amusement. It was said of a fine young fellow,
who frequently joined our wolf-hunting expeditions, a cadet of
the ancient house of de Morlaix, that his passion for dancing the
" Jabadao " had been the ruin of his life. He was engaged to
be married to a lady, who, in addition to great personal charms,
was reputed to be the wealthiest heiress in all Brittany ; the
day had been fixed, the trousseau provided, and wedding guests
bidden to the ceremony, from the storm-beaten cliffs of Penmarch
to the chateau of Larochejaquelin on the distant Loire. A week
or so before the event was to have taken place, his presence was
required at Quimper to meet the father of the bride elect, the
Baron St. Pol-de-Leon, between whom and himself certain legal
documents, relating to the lady's settlements, were to be signed
and attested by both parties. St. Pol, one of the few specimens
left of the Grand Monarque School, punctilious, proud, and
treating the slightest liberty taken with himself as an affront to
his dignity, was duly in attendance at the appointed time. Not
so, however, young de Morlaix, who, in passing through a village
between Le Faou and Quimper, unfortunately heard the strains
of a bagpipe playing the " Jabadao " tune, and, unable to resist
the attraction, had fastened his horse to a tree and flung himself
into the circle with the spirit of a Spaniard dancing the Bolero.

While he was thus engaged, amusing himself and fascinating
a peasant girl, who was the belle of the district and his partner
in the dance, the horse broke his bridle, and, turning his head
in the direction of his own stable, trotted off unseen by a human

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 323

being. Still the wild notes of the bagpipes kept the revellers
going ; and not until de Morlaix, looking at his watch, discovered
that already he had overstayed his time, and could only by hard
riding keep his appointment at Quimper, did he hurry away from
the attractive ring. His dismay, on finding his steed gone, no
one knew whither, and himself stranded at least three leagues
short of his destination, may be better imagined than described.
However, after tracking the animal a long distance without being
able to overtake him, he gave up the chase, and started at once
on foot for Quimper, hoping still to catch St. Pol in the town,
and explain the cause of his delay. But he was too late. The
haughty old baron, after waiting two weary hours in the Avocat's
office, ordered out his carriage, in an ungovernable rage, declaring
his daughter was slighted and himself insulted by this cool
conduct of de Morlaix. Nor did the matter end there. The
next day came a challenge, worded in fierce language, and
demanding immediate satisfaction for the offence offered. To
this, however, de Morlaix returned a mild apologetic answer,
explaining his brief enjoyment of the "Jabadao" en route, and
the misadventure with his horse ; but the fiery baron was not
to be appeased, and, although no duel ensued, the match was
broken off, and de Morlaix never saw the lady afterwards. The
result, however, made little or no impression on his spirits, for
only a week after the event he was the life and soul of a party
hunting with St. Prix's wolf-hounds in his father's forest ; neithe
was his fancy for the " Jabadao " impaired a whit by the loss
of the heiress, but, on the contrary, he never failed to take a
turn in it whenever a peasant girl and the bagpipes gave him
the chance of doing so ; and he was wont, moreover, to say
that, had he been connected with St. Pol, the scruples of the
haughty old peer would probably have compelled him to give
up that exhilarating and delightful dance — a sacrifice too painful
to be contemplated.

324 . WOLF-HUNTING.

After that day at Pleyben no particular incident worthy of
record, with respect to the wild sport of the forest or the social
amusements of the people, occurs to my recollection during the
remainder of my stay in Brittany. Carhaix being my head-
quarters, the centre of the roughest and wildest country between
St. Brieuc and Douarnenez, the point of divergence from which
the best hunting and shooting could be obtained, and the town
of all others the least frequented by strangers, I returned thither
to pack up my goods and bid adieu to the many Breton
friends, gentle and simple, who had shown me no little kind-
ness during my long and pleasant sojourn amongst them. To
M. de Leseleuc, a grand specimen of a native gentleman, I was
especially indebted for his never-failing courtesy and counsel with
respect to the customs of the people, for his hospitality, and,
above all, for his good company on many a shooting excursion
in the surrounding forests. On shaking him by the hand for the
last time, and thanking him for all the favour he had shown
me — " It is nothing," he said ; " nothing at all : nor can I ever
repay the kindness my father received from your countrymen
when he was a prisoner of war so long at Wincanton."

Great was my regret on parting with these primitive people,
among whom I do not remember to have passed a single unhappy
hour ; for, wander where I would in search of game, I was never
once given to understand that I was an intruder on the soil, nor,
with one exception, and that most justifiably, was my per mis de
chasse ever demanded either by a gendarme or a peasant pro-
prietor. I had just shot a woodcock which rose from a spring
close to a peasant's homestead ; and, as my faithful old Rover
brought me the bird, a wild-looking Breton rushed out upon me,
exclaiming with great excitement, " That's my fowl ; I have been
feeding it daily for the last fortnight ; there are my traps (da
lindag) by which I hoped to have caught it."

I looked down, and saw the bog round the spring pegged all

WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 325

over with horse-hair springles, and the marvel was how the cock
managed to evade them even for a single hour. "By what
authority are you here," he continued, in an angry strain, " de-
stroying and carrying off the produce of my own property?"

" By the authority of this document," I said confidently, pulling
out ray permis de chasse, and handing it to him for inspection.
While he was examining it, literally upside down, I took the
woodcock alive out of the old dog's mouth and begged his
acceptance of the bird ; while, at the same time, opening my
tobacco-pouch, always well stocked with caporal, I insisted on
his filling his own plaque with that fragrant and much-coveted
tobacco. Had we, like Tarn o' Shanter and Souter Johnny, been

— fou' for weeks thegither,"

we could not have become better friends than we did in two
minutes. The offerings, especially the latter, acted like magic
upon him ; and I left with a pressing invitation on his part that
I would soon come again and shoot woodcocks in that locality.

The two good hounds I brought with me into Brittany, one of
which was bred at Lanharran and the other at Ty-isha, both
possessing the same blood with the Welsh hounds now so famous
in the Chepstow and Langibby kennels, I left as a legacy to my
kind friend M. de St. Prix. The Lanharran hound, however,
going astray, was soon after eaten by wolves ; but the other, the
black and tan " Warrior," took to the rough game at once, and
became one of the best hounds for wolf and boar in the Louvetier's
pack.

A fair passage in a spanking bullock-craft, called the " Eclipse,'
conveyed me in four hours from Port Rieux to Jersey, and thence,
taking the mail-steamer on the following morning, I was landed at
Southampton comfortably that same evening.

THE END.

CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,
CRYSTAL PAI.ACK 1'RESS.

April 30, 1875.

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