WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 221 



hound belonging to the braconnier had followed his master and 

 the sabottiers to the forest of Conveau, and, having joined the 

 pack when the wolf was roused, had held on with the chase ; 

 and this hound, well acquainted with the country, had doubtless 

 acted as pioneer, and brought the rest back to his own home. 



Not only hounds, but horses, buffalo, deer, and, in fact, all 

 gregarious animals, when beset by danger or difficulties, are wont, 

 as a rule, to adopt a leader and to trust implicitly to him for 

 safety and deliverance. And it is no less marvellous than true 

 that, in the selection of that leader, unerring instinct prompts 

 them to distinguish the right animal for the right place, and to 

 choose the one of all others the most capable and best qualified, 

 either by courage, strength, local knowledge, or superior sagacity, 

 to bring them in safety out of their trouble. Who that has read 

 the passage can forget Lord Byron's description of the "trampling 

 troop" of wild horses, and their mighty leader, in that story of 

 Mazeppa? While the steed, to which he was so fast bound, 

 fell at length, and, with glazing eyes and reeking limbs, lay 

 immovable 



' ' A thousand horse, the wild, the free, 

 Like waves that follow o'er the sea, 

 Came thickly thundering on. 



* * * * * 



On came the troop they saw him stoop, 



They saw me strangely bound along 



His back with many a bloody thong : 

 They stop they start they snuff the air, 

 Gallop a moment here and there, 

 Approach, retire, wheel round and round, 

 Then plunging back with sudden -bound, 

 Headed by one black mighty steed, 

 Who seemed the patriarch of his breed, 



Without a single speck or hair 



Of white upon his shaggy hide ; 

 They snort they foam neigh swerve aside, 

 And backward to the forest fly, 

 By instinct, from a human eye." 



