WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 219 



for, to judge by the wild delight evinced on every occasion by 

 the drag, the chase, or the kill, it was impossible to resist the 

 conclusion that, after all, the sport alone would have gone a long 

 way in satisfying the wrongs endured by these manly fellows. 



When Kergoorlas turned his back on this wild woodland 

 scene, of all that noble pack, eighteen couple strong, that he had 

 brought with him but a few days before from Upper Brittany, 

 seven hounds only remained to follow him home from the field. 

 The others, either rendered hors-de-combat by death or wounds, or 

 straying, after that fatal day at Conveau, over the trackless wastes 

 of the Black Mountains, made up a list of casualties long enough 

 and vexatious enough to break the heart of a man less sanguine 

 and elastic than that of Kergoorlas. He was not one, however, 

 to yield complacently to adverse circumstances, and cry out for 

 help from Jupiter before he had put his own shoulder to the 

 wheel ; but, on the contrary, the loss of his hounds, which he 

 felt grievously, seemed to rouse his spirit and at once to add 

 fresh fuel to his natural energy; and, as he turned in his saddle 

 to survey the scanty lot that, in answer to their names, instantly 

 separated from the pack, and, with sterns erect, gathered in 

 closely to his horse's heels, his last words were, " Helicon, 

 Mareschal, and Niobe are, I grieve to say, past recovery, and 

 many of my leading hounds are badly wounded ; but, for the 

 rest, if uneaten by wolves, I'll draw every hamlet and forest in 

 Lower Brittany till I find them ; so we may meet again." 



He then bid us adieu, and set his horse's head direct for 

 Gourin. On arriving in that town, his first business was to repair 

 to the hospital on which, indeed, even in the fervour of the 

 chase, his thoughts had been intent throughout the day; for, 

 though the morning report was favourable, he was fully aware 

 that the lives of both the men, the braconnier and piqueur, must 

 still be in the utmost jeopardy. " The painful suspense I 

 endured " (he wrote to St. Prix on the following day) " ere I 



