1 86 WOLF-HUNTING. 



running into us, for it gave no sign whatever of the approximate 

 fences on either side of the road. Luckily, the horses knew it, 

 and so we arrived at Henn-bont without accident. 



Here, after some hasty refreshment, we bid adieu to our kind 

 and agreeable companions, M. Coste and M. de la Villemarque ; 

 and the road being a broad and a good one between this and 

 Gourin, via Plouay and Le Faouet, we travelled over it at a merry 

 pace with our light load and spanking team, and arrived at the 

 Cheval Blanc soon after midnight. 



" Hollo ! " cried Shafto, as we entered the place of the old 

 town (his mercury had been rising rapidly after quitting Carnac 

 with the prospect of grand sport at Kilvern on the following 

 day) ; " hollo ! what on earth mean all these gendarmes in the 

 street, and so many houses alight at this hour, St. Prix ? " 



" There has been a row, doubtless, of some sort," responded 

 the latter ; " but I devoutly hope none of our men are implicated 

 in it." 



" So do I," said Kergoorlas j " though that drunken piqueur 

 of mine is always getting into scrapes j and it will be a marvel if 

 he has managed, during my absence, to keep clear of one for two 

 days." 



This was precisely the case, as Kergoorlas soon discovered 

 on alighting from the drag, three or four gendarmes and a crowd 

 of peasants, the latter all more or less in a state of intoxication, 

 having surrounded it the moment it came to a standstill. 



" Your piqueur, Bertrand Gastel," said the chief officer, " has, 

 we fear, murdered a man, the braconnier Pierre Cantref. He lies 

 insensible at the Gendarmerie, and Gastel is shut up in the prison 

 ward at the same place. He is still very drunk, and more like a 

 raving bull than a human being." 



" Then I hope you'll keep him there till he recovers his 

 reason," said Kergoorlas, with great excitement. 



" That you may be sure we shall do," replied the gendarme ; 



