WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. Si 



" Well, but if the sport is good," said the Count de Kergoorlas, 

 chiming in, " I'll be bound to say we shall none of us give the 

 bullets a second thought However, it would probably be 

 advisable to warn the Kilvern peasants, ere [they leave this house, 

 that the gendarmes will be sure to attend the hunt, and that 

 every gun will be seized, if its owner cannot produce his permis- 

 de-chasse" 



" That may deter some few of them," said M. de St. Prix ; 

 " but the majority of the peasants, whether possessing or riot that 

 legal qualification, will care no more for the gendarmes than you 

 do for the Loup-garou, that forest bugbear of our old women 

 and children. However, give them that hint by all means. I 

 only wish my hounds, in times past, had suffered as little from the 

 boars' tusks as the chasseurs from the glancing balls of the 

 Brittany peasants." 



" Do your hounds, then, venture to worry him," I inquired, 

 when the boar is brought to bay?" 



" Aye," said St. Prix ; " they go in at him as if he were a 

 mere fallow doe ; and it's an awful sight to witness the slashing 

 and gashing inflicted on the best and bravest of my hounds ere 

 we are able to give him his coup-de-grace" 



"That, of course, you do with your chasse-couteau ; but is it 

 not a service of some danger to yourself, closing with him at a 

 time when, maddened with rage and driven to a stand-still, he 

 catches his wind and charges furiously on every enemy?" 



" It would certainly be so," said the Louvetier, " to a man 

 who does not thoroughly understand the use of his weapon : he 

 must be cool, too, and know where to strike ; then, his blow 

 must be quick as a flash of lightning, or it would probably fall in 

 vain ; and, if so, let the bungler look to his safety." 



The use of the rapier has ever been a favourite study with 

 our continental neighbours j and, as it is a thrusting weapon akin 

 to the couteau-de-chasse, it will readily be understood how expertly 



G 



