2i8 WOLF-HUNTING. 



joined the town-chasse) seemed to satisfy Keryfan, who was well 

 aware of his host's weakness on this point ; and, having so far 

 gained his object, he withdrew for the night. 



The gap in our little circle, occasioned by the absence of the 

 Comte de Kergoorlas, was the subject of great disappointment 

 to all but, encompassed as he was with so many troubles at 

 Gourin, the result of which might probably involve him in serious 

 difficulty hereafter, he felt it was imperative on him, both as a 

 matter of duty and self-interest, to repair thither without 

 delay after the sport at Kilvern ; and to this necessity we were 

 compelled reluctantly to bow. 



But now to return to the forest. The obsequies over that last 

 boar were soon ended ; nor was his carcase honoured with the 

 fanfare of horns that usually proclaimed the final triumph over 

 the bristly foe. No less than five boar, suspended by the heels 

 in various forest trees, awaited dissection, ere St. Prix could 

 venture to quit the ground and take his hounds home to their 

 Carhaix kennel. The day was waning fast; and as this work 

 was the especial duty of Louis Trefarreg and his piqueurs, under 

 the direction of the Louvetier himself, it was done, as may be 

 supposed, in a rough-and-ready fashion, and with a despatch 

 rendered necessary by the gloom of night that even now darkened 

 the glen. It was marvellous, however, considering the tools used 

 two or three chasse-couteaux and one small battle-axe, which 

 Louis Trefarreg bore in his belt how adroitly the head and 

 quarters were severed, and the chines divided with a precision 

 worthy of a Paris charcutier. The distribution of all this meat, 

 roughly estimated at ten hundred-weight, was quickly effected, 

 and, as heretofore, appeared to give the peasants unqualified 

 satisfaction ; but if the tales about their crops were true, that 

 amount of compensation could scarcely have been considered an 

 equivalent for the damage they had sustained by the plundering 

 habits of so many pigs. The sport was doubtless the first object; 



