WILD SPOR1 IN BRITTANY. 145 



now surrounded the lower portion of the rocky amphitheatre ; and 

 every open spot, by which the pigs could possibly break, was 

 guarded by two or three sharp-shooters, whose heavy slugs were 

 not likely to allow a single pig to escape alive or unscathed into 

 the cover below. The two smaller boar were toppled over before 

 they were clear of the rocks and as the stronger beasts, close 

 followed by the hounds, gained a patch of open ground and pre- 

 sented a fair broadside to the peasants guarding that pass, an 

 involuntary shrug of the shoulders from Keryfan too plainly indi- 

 cated his thoughts, and seemed to say, " All's up with that lot : 

 we shall have to draw again, or get no hunting to-day." 



But he was wrong again : two only of the bigger boar fell to 

 the volley, the other two bounded away apparently unhit, and 

 instantly were lost to sight in the dense and umbrageous cover 

 into which they at once plunged. Veteran and Harmonic, how- 

 ever, were after them, singing a lively duet and delighting Ker- 

 goorlas' ear with the sweet harmony. Then sounded the signal 

 from St. Prix's horn ; and quick as lightning in uncoupling his 

 relay, Shafto threw in the eager lot well to the head and if at 

 that moment he could have borrowed Mercury's wings and wit- 

 nessed the flinging, and twisting, and emulation of his hounds, his 

 happiness would indeed have been complete : but, lacking these, 

 he trudged manfully after them, and did all a mortal could do to 

 see the sport and enjoy his life. A rare, enthusiastic, unflagging 

 lover of hunting, was Shafto, as ever followed a hound : the habits 

 of the game he pursued, and the power of instinct displayed by 

 the hound, were his especial study ; and every hit made by the 

 one or shifts practised by the other, in the longest day, seemed to 

 be imprinted on his memory, like a picture on a plate of steel. 

 Over a bottle of Bordeaux wine and among kindred spirits, years 

 after some memorable run had taken place, how pleasant it was to 

 hear him reproduce the scene, and record every incident of the 

 chase as freshly and faithfully as if it had occurred but a week 



