254 WOLF-HUNTING. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the unfeigned regret of the Louvetier that 

 his hounds had not been permitted to pull down in fair chase this 

 stout old wolf, I could not help remarking to Keryfan that the 

 charcoal-burner's shot was a timely and fortunate stroke in favour 

 of the hounds. They had run him incessantly, including drag 

 and chase, from eight in the morning till three o'clock in the 

 afternoon, and that, too, for a distance of ten leagues at least, 

 over as rough a country as any in Lower Brittany. The wolf, 

 however, during the latter part of the chase that between 

 Trefranc and Glomel had been gradually increasing the space 

 between him and them, and bid fair, judging by the beaten 

 condition of the latter, to " knock them out of time," even if 

 their courage and stamina had enabled them to maintain the 

 chase for an hour longer, when night would have given him the 

 victory. 



It was fortunate, also, for the hounds that, by killing at 

 Glomel, they were within such easy distance only two leagues 

 from Carhaix ; and certainly not less fortunate for our steeds and 

 the running piqueurs, whose powers of endurance had been sorely 

 tried by the straight-away tactics of this veteran wolf. Long and 

 continuous, however, as the chase had been, the piqueurs, from 

 their knowledge of the country and of the short cuts from one 

 cover to another, managed to put in an appearance before St. Prix 



