WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 303 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



MEANING to stay only ten days or a fortnight at the Hermitage, 

 Keryfan and myself were one morning busily preparing for our 

 departure as the latter period drew near, when, Shafto catching 

 sight of the grand portmanteau mounted on a couple of chairs, 

 and Keryfan superintending Annette in the arrangement of its 

 internal compartments numerous as those of pea-green Hayne's 

 dressing-case pressed us so earnestly not yet to desert him, that 

 we gladly consented to hold on for another fortnight ; and accord- 

 ingly the portmanteau, with its fancy buckles and brass studs, was 

 shunted forthwith to a position less suggestive of departure than 

 that of the supporting chairs ; namely, to the vacant space 

 underneath its proprietor's own bed. 



But the fortnight too soon came to an end, and towards the 

 last day or two of our stay at these hospitable quarters we were 

 looking for redlegs in some broomy ground on the south side of 

 the mountain, when, just as we had sprung a covey of eight birds,, 

 out of shot, a French chasseur, with a Breton servant, hove in 

 sight, and, coming directly towards us, indicated that he had 

 marked in the whole covey, and would have great pleasure in 

 conducting us to the remise, which lay in a hollow valley at least 

 half-a-mile away. This most polite, and, as we thought at the 

 time, most disinterested offer was of course thankfully accepted ; 

 and trudging on in company together we discovered that the 



