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 



