156 WOLF-HUNTING. 



tion that had taken place between us. So when he saw the lot of 

 angry peasants dashing down-hill directly for the meadow in 

 which he stood, Noel's courage utterly failed him ; and, dragging 

 with all haste the wolf-trap from the depths of the carnassiere, he 

 cast it, in view of them, to the ground, and then, with a yell of 

 terror, started off at top speed, and disappeared from the 

 scene. 



The abandonment of the spoil appeared to satisfy the 

 peasants, as they instantly picked up the trap, turned on their 

 heel, and quietly retraced their steps towards Trefranc. It was a 

 case of relicta bene on Noel's part, most clearly ; for, had he been 

 weighted with that incumbrance, he must inevitably have been 

 overtaken, and would certainly have suffered rough treatment at 

 his captors' hands. 



After this adventure, which occurred soon after I first arrived 

 at Carhaix, I made a memorandum never again to remove a 

 peasant's trap. My dogs, of course, I liberated when caught ; 

 but I always allowed the engines to remain where I found them. 

 While on the subject, of poaching, let me record an ingenious and, 

 to me, a novel mode of catching pheasants, which an old soldier 

 one who had done good service in India, but received no 

 pension for it practised some time since in a western county. 

 Meeting him one day by the side of a river, with his creel 

 tolerably well filled with trout, I found his conversation so full of 

 wild-life anecdote that I gladly shared my sandwiches and sherry- 

 flask with him, for the sake of his good company. As we 

 wandered along, chatting, fishing, and sipping sherry, the old 

 man's heart expanded, and, after deploring the want of a pension, 

 to which he considered himself fairly entitled, he consoled himself 

 by assuring me he knew a thing or two more than his neighbours, 

 and that he could earn many a shilling while they were abed and 

 asleep. " For," said he, taking me into full confidence, " so long 

 as my Lady up to Grandton or Sir John up to Brigsham keep a 



