1 1 o WOLF-HUNTING. 



That was a very serious affair when the game was man ; but 

 in this case, where the gathering was purely a social one organised 

 for the sake of sport and the capture of a few pigs, well might it 

 be one of happy prospect and joyous anticipation ; and verily the 

 peasants made it so, for they chatted and laughed with so much 

 exuberance that, had it not been for the sudden and very unwel- 

 come appearance of two gendarmes in full martial costume, it 

 would have been difficult to understand what arrangements Ker- 

 goorlas had made for the chase of the day. The hubbub, how- 

 ever, was hushed in a moment ; and it was quite evident that the 

 presence of Mephistophiles and the Demon Huntsman of the 

 Black Forest would have been a far more acceptable addition 

 to the party than that of the two officers now mingling in the 

 crowd. The old loyal spirit is still alive and strong in the breast 

 of the Breton ; and if ever another Larochejacquelin comes to 

 the front to maintain the cause of royalty, it is quite certain he 

 will not lack followers among the nobles and peasants of Upper 

 and Lower Brittany. Here they ever have been and ever 

 will be Bourbonists to the backbone ; nor will the carnage per- 

 petrated by Marceau, nor the atrocities of the Convention ever 

 be forgiven. 



Then, by way of rousing the peasants from the sudden chill 

 caused by the cocked-hats, Kergoorlas addressed them aloud : 

 " Friends," he said, " the boars are plentiful in Koenig, and the 

 hounds eager for the chase. Let me ask you to repair at once to 

 your several posts in the cover ; to be careful where you stand ; 

 and, above all, not to fire when the hounds are in conflict with a 

 boar. The chase will now commence." 



Not more instantaneously was Roderick Dhu's wave of the 

 hand obeyed by his hardy clansmen than the signal given by 

 Kergoolas to his Breton " field." 



" Each warrior vanished where he stood, 

 In broom or bracken, heath or wood ; 



