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, 



