THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 47 



We had heard of a plain on the east- 

 ern side of the wood, and to this spot we 

 first directed our steps. We found the 

 plain certainly, but it was not of suffici- 

 ent extent to answer our purpose; indeed, 

 it was hardly a mile in extent, and, more- 

 over, an extensive forest lay at the further 

 end of it, towards La Guerche, for which, 

 as a matter of course, the boar would 

 make. 



A youthful volunteer who had accom- 

 panied the cavalcade informed us that 

 on the south side, towards the Roudun 

 road, the country was quite open and 

 interspersed with communes and pasture 

 land. Our host having confirmed the 

 assertion, we took a circuitous canter of 

 six miles at least, and at last reached the 

 spot, and a better line of country for a 

 steeple-chase or our projected amuse- 

 ment I never wish to look upon. 



Thus far matters looked well ; and as 



