WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 239 



however, when the pain had somewhat subsided, did not deter 

 Johnson from again closing with his victim, and vaulting on his 

 back, like a tiger springing on his prey. There was a ferocity 

 now in his expression that I had not before observed, a vindictive, 

 pitiless look, that seemed to say he'd cut him to ribbons if the 

 beast again proved refractory. 



Happily, however, we were spared a further exhibition of 

 brutality. The animal, now fairly subdued, walked quietly away 

 in the direction of Rostrenen ; Johnson, too, soon regained his 

 natural vivacity, indulging in stable slang, and boasting that he 

 should be able to guide the " Lunatique " with a packthread for 

 the rest of his life. 



After this exciting episode on the highway, we did not 

 overtake the hounds before they had reached Hengoet. St. Prix 

 had already thrown his tufters into cover, and the occasional 

 deep-sounding note of more than one pioneer gave token of a 

 night-scent, not very fresh, but still improving, as the hounds 

 advanced into the hollow glen. 



" This is a travelling wolf," observed the Louvetier, " probably 

 disturbed from Locrist ; and if so, the drag, I fear, will be a long 

 affair, and may lead us far beyond this cover ere we come up to- 

 the wanderer's lair." 



I had just looked at my watch ; and finding the time to be 

 2.55 P.M., and the glen below looking dark as the jaws of Erebus y 

 I wondered how long and how far he would encourage his hounds 

 to carry the drag, if they failed to rouse the wild beast in this 

 grand forest, the distant boundary of which appeared to be at 

 least a league away; so I ventured to inquire the name and 

 distance of the next cover, if this should prove a blank. 



"The stronghold of Dualt," said St. Prix, "lies about two- 

 leagues off; and this wolf being, as I suspect, an old skulker, 

 it is more than probable he has passed on and sought the rocky 

 fastnesses of that vast cover. In that case, the hounds will be 



