WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 195 



to be up and stirring on the wished-for morrow long before day- 

 break. At six o'clock, then, not only was the Cheval Blanc wide 

 awake, but the whole town of Gourin was ringing with a confused 

 din of men's voices, the clatter of sabots, curs barking, hounds 

 baying, and the notes of many brazen horns, creating a combined 

 discord, worthy of the Eumenides. 



At my bedside, before I was half awake, and before I could 

 exactly comprehend what the row was, Keryfan stood erect in full 

 hunting costume, and, with his voluminous horn in hand, was pre- 

 paring to salute me with his favourite air, " La sortie du Chenil." 

 " A cold pig," had there been water enough, would have been far 

 less trying to my nerves at that moment ; so, to avert the inflic- 

 tion, I screeched out, at the top of my voice, " Hold hard, 

 Keryfan, for mercy's sake, hold hard ! You've broken my rest, 

 and you'll break the drum of my ear if you blow that horn now." 



" Well, then, turn out, Frank," said he, provokingly. " Louis 

 Trefarreg and Shafto have gone on with the hounds ; and St. Prix 

 means to be punctual at the meet, having made up his mind to 

 return to Carhaix this evening." 



" I'll do anything," I replied, " if you'll only keep that horn 

 quiet j give me twenty minutes, and I shall be ready not for a 

 start exactly, but for that cup of coffee you know so well how to 

 brew." 



" You shall have it, Frank ; but despatch, mind, despatch ! 

 that's the word ; for St. Prix will not wait one minute after seven 

 o'clock." 



Hitherto our Gonrin meeting, barring a few trifling discom- 

 forts, had been one of unmixed pleasure and success ; and, as 

 Shafto was very anxious to draw some large covers, lying westward 

 of Kilvern, and to entertain our party at the " Hermitage " (though 

 how he proposed compressing us into four rooms was never 

 explained), the meeting would probably have been prolonged 

 over ^another week, and Shafto's hospitality, only bounded by 



