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 



