WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 83 



them in that last worry at Trefranc ; while a couple or two came 

 limping along on three legs to meet and welcome the Louvetier, 

 as he entered the grimy hovel in which they were confined. One 

 old hound, a grand specimen of the St. Hubert breed, standing 

 26 inches at the shoulder, and topped by a head and ears such as 

 Snyders never saw, rose leisurely from the bed-recess and exhibited 

 a face covered with scars a recent ugly one, extending from his 

 cheek-bone to his nose, added dignity, if it did not otherwise 

 improve his look ; while countless old seams about his neck and 

 head reminded me of that ancient warrior, Curius Dentatus, 

 whose body bore the marks of a hundred wounds, and all in 

 front He was well named " Caesar," for he looked like an 

 emperor and a conqueror from stem to stern. 



St. Prix's remedies were simple enough ; a bucket of water 

 and a sponge being the sole appliance for all wounds except, 

 indeed, where the sores had generated proud flesh, when he 

 used blue-stone with an unsparing hand. If a wound, however, 

 was within reach of a hound's tongue, he never troubled it with 

 artificial treatment, well knowing the all-healing power given by 

 nature to that member. Half-a-dozen hounds had submittted 

 very quietly to the sponge and water process no joke for their 

 sores under the rough hands of Louis Trevarreg when it 

 became old " Caesar's" turn to undergo the same ordeal. I could 

 see at a glance, however, that he was a hound not to be handled 

 by a novice ; and that even the experienced piqueur would gladly 

 have deferred the operation, if his master had not been present 

 to insist on its performance. " Caesar," said St. Prix, very 

 distinctly, as he ran the thong through the keeper of his whip 

 and drew the loop tightly round the hound's neck " Caesar 

 ici, mon enfant j" and out stalked the grand old hound, slowly 

 and reluctantly, towards the bucket in front of the door. Two 

 or three deep growls, and a few spasmodic twitches with the 

 end of his stern, indicated but too plainly that he was in no 



