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, 



