WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 137 



ensued at the doors of the various tenements to which they sought 

 admission, must have disturbed every soul in Gourin. On 

 retiring to my own apartment my misery may be better imagined 

 than described when I discovered that my bed was already 

 occupied by a chasseur, fast asleep, and breathing loudly and 

 heavily under the influence of the wassail, of which he had been 



one of the chief promoters. He proved to be a M. de , a 



large landed-proprietor from the neighbourhood of St. Brieuc \ a 

 duellist, too, of no favourable reputation throughout Brittany. 

 The very first day he joined our party Keryfan called my special 

 attention to him, and said, " Whatever you do, don't quarrel with 

 that man : he is as much given to duels as the editor of a Paris 

 brochure" 



I had taken him twice or three times by the shoulders and en- 

 deavoured to rouse him by a lusty shout, close to his ear ; when, 

 the light falling on his face, I discovered who the intruder was ; 

 and at the same moment, as Keryfan's warning flashed across my 

 mind, I said to myself almost audibly, "Well! now I am in for a 

 row ; but it can't be helped ; he has no business here, and out he 

 shall come, ' coiite qui cofite.'" I was in the act of taking him by 

 the ancles, for the purpose of ejectment, when, hearing Keryfan's 

 light step on the staircase, I paused an instant, thinking he would 

 readily lend me a hand, and that two of us could manage the 

 matter better than one. But, he knew the man too well for that ; 

 he knew that bloodshed would be the inevitable result - } and 

 although he- was bold enough to take a lion by the beard, if 

 necessary, yet he was sensible enough to hate a brawl and to 

 advise caution when danger was nigh. 



" Don't touch the man," he said, emphatically ; " he is 

 evidently fast asleep and very drunk ; why not drag the mattress 

 from under him, and with a blanket around you take your rest on 

 the floor you would be just as comfortable as on a wooden 

 bedstead." 



