8o WOLF-HUNTING. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



" FRANK," said the Baron de Keryfan to me, immediately after 

 the interview with the Breton peasants, " we shall have hot work 

 next week at Kilvern : the whole country will be there, from 

 Pontivy to Landerneau ; and every peasant owning a musket 

 or a blunderbuss will bring his weapon, and use it, too, in the 

 most reckless fashion on that occasion the slugs at Trefranc 

 were mere hail compared with the weight of metal deemed neces- 

 sary at Kilvern : the ' balle-mariee/ which is simply a couple of 

 leaden bullets screwed into one, is rammed into every barrel when 

 a pig is the object of the chase ; and this, if it hits not its mark 

 is apt to glance awkwardly from rock or tree, and create serious 

 results." 



" A pleasant prospect for men and hounds," I replied. " If 

 that is to be the order of the day, one might as well encounter a 

 band of armed savages as join these wild Bretons when excited 

 by the chase. By St. Hubert ! after the pinking you had yester- 

 day, would it not be safer for you to send a messenger for one of 

 those Crusader hauberks that hang in your hall at Pen-meur ; it at 

 least would protect your body from mortal injury, and your head 

 and limbs might take their chance." 



"You're chaffing me, Frank," said the Baron, good-tem- 

 peredly ; " but, believe me, the storm of random bullets will be 

 no joke when a pig comes to run short in those hollow glens." 



