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 



