258 WOLF-HUNTING. 



coast. Secret as had been his flight, however, the non-return of 

 the boat on the following day gave rise to inquiries, which soon 

 brought the London detective on his track; and although no 

 footprints remained to indicate his route o'er the pathless sea, the 

 officer in pursuit, as if guided by instinct, drew the Brittany ports, 

 one by one, from St. Malo westward, and at length hit off his 

 man at the Treguier Douanerie. 



" From that point there was little further difficulty in the 

 matter, for had the fugitive retired to the forest, and lived with 

 the wolves, instead of coming here to hunt them and deal for 

 horses, our police and gendarmes would have hunted him 

 down, to a certainty, as weasels would hunt a rat in a bundle 

 of faggots." 



" Aye," said Shafto, " and would take care that he was sent to 

 Cayenne afterwards, there to expiate his crime by expatriation 

 and labour for the remainder of his life. In England convicts 

 are kept at home, and fed on far better fare than falls to the lot 

 of the honest, industrious labourer ; and if they only happen to 

 have plausible tongues, and a credulous chaplain, they are again 

 let loose on the public to practise, as they too often do, with 

 improved knowledge, their old craft of ruffianism and felony." 



Apropos to ticket-of-leave men, a story is told of the late 

 Lord Carlisle, who, when he was Viceroy of Ireland, undertook, 

 from motives of philanthropy, to employ convicts thus liberated 

 as domestic' servants at Dublin Castle. Accordingly, one day 

 after dinner, when two strapping ticket-of-leave men had been 

 waiting at table, powdered and full-dressed as footmen in court 

 livery, Lord Carlisle turned to an intimate friend, one of the 

 wittiest and best known of diners-out in London, and asked him 

 to give his opinion and tell him honestly what he thought of 

 the plan. 



" Well, my lord," said he, " I think if you persevere with it, 

 jou will soon be the only spoon left in this house." 



