WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 189 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE murderous assault committed on the poor braconnier, Cantref, 

 so well known for many a league round Gourin, created intense ex- 

 citement among the peasantry, who, notwithstanding the protection 

 of the gendarmes and police, could with difficulty be restrained 

 from seizing Gastel and wreaking instant vengeance on him for 

 the foul deed. In the very nick of time, therefore, did the drag 

 containing Kergoorlas and St. Prix the latter respected and 

 beloved beyond any man in Brittany rattle over the rude stone- 

 way of the town up to the doors of the Cheval Blanc. A plot, 

 the object of which was to force the gendarmerie during the 

 darkness of night, was gaining strength in all quarters ; and, but 

 for the timely arrival of the Louvetier, another hour would 

 probably have matured it, and seen a desperate affray, if not 

 murder, in the streets of Gourin. The Breton peasantry are a 

 good-natured but fiery race ; and their ire, once aroused, is not 

 easily appeased. This, too, was an act of such savage violence 

 perpetrated on a neighbour by the piqueur Gastel, whom they all 

 regarded as a foreigner, being a Vendean, and no Breton at all ; 

 that nothing less than the influence of St. Prix, and a promise 

 on his part that Gastel should be brought to justice before the 

 authorities at Lorient, could pacify the excited crowd. M. de 

 Kergoorlas, too, who was painfully shocked by the occurrence, 

 not only expressed the deepest sympathy for the braconnier, but 



