252 WOLF-HUNTING. 



whole pack, getting together, rattled along with a roar of harmony 

 that made the old forest rock to its very centre. 



" That was a trying moment of suspense," observed the Lou- 

 vetier, whose countenance had indicated intense anxiety during 

 the check ; " but I really think the untoward act of heading 

 the wolf may yet turn to our advantage. Had he broken 

 where he intended, his point would doubtless have been the 

 rough covers of Bourbriac, some six leagues away ; but now he 

 may put his head for Hengoet, and give us a better chance." 



So he did ; and although some of the chasseurs, who carried 

 their carabines and professed to know Dualt as intimately as their 

 own pockets, rode hard for a shot at several points, the old villain 

 never gave them a chance, but went, like an arrow, straight for the 

 western side of the cover, and, breaking at the exact spot on which 

 we had stopped the hounds on the previous night, he led us to 

 Hengoet at a pace that would have blown a mountain fox. The 

 jays screeched and the magpies chattered, migrating in dismay 

 from their old secluded haunts, as the chase swept through 

 Hengoet, pointing over the dreary waste direct for Locrist. 'The 

 long-winded horns were now useless, indeed, an incumbrance to 

 the chasseurs : the hounds, driving like fire over a prairie, needed 

 not their aid, and the men had enough to do to manage their 

 steeds and live with the cry. 



" Go along, Frank ! " said Keryfan, observing my cob still 

 travelling as sweet as oil over the roughest ground ; " go along ! 

 we've got a Tartar before us ; and if they don't stop him in 

 Locrist, he'll take us either to Trefranc or Conveau to a dead 

 certainty." 



" I only hope he may," said the Louvetier, as, clearing a bank 

 higher than a parish pound, he landed in the road, where the 

 fight took place between the butcher's horse and the Jersey 

 dealer. At this point, however, the wolf turned, apparently 

 mistrusting the safety of Locrist as much as the Louvetier and 



