November — Forest Scenery. 23 



exhibited in triumph the ensanguined blade which had 

 finished the little marcassin. 



Whilst we were breaking our fast our geographical 

 situation was made clear to us. In the first place, this 

 was not the stream leading to the Val Ste. Veronique, 

 but another rivulet leading in quite a different direction. 

 Had we been able to follow it we should have emerged 

 from the forest at a point about forty miles from home. 

 We had walked thirty miles, and were fifteen from the 

 Val Ste. Veronique in a straight line. The farmer knew 

 of a forester's hut within a reasonable distance, and pro- 

 posed that we should go there when it was daylight, as 

 we all needed a few hours' rest to prepare us for our 

 homeward journey. 



VI. 



Scenery of the interior of the Forest — The Forester's Hut — Interior 

 of the Hut — The Forester and his Son — A little pet Wild Boar — 

 A Boar that heard Mass — Jean Bouleau the Forester — His osten- 

 sible Trade — He is a Poacher — Poachers and Magistrates — An 

 Indiscreet Poacher — The Temptations of Good Eating — The Pro- 

 tectors of Poachers — Professional Braconniers — Their Wonderful 

 Skill — The Weasel — Alexis fraternizes with the Weasel — The 

 Weasel described — His manners and habits — His affected igno- 

 rance — The Weasel's knowledge of the Forest. 



WE lay round our fire in the forest during the 

 hours that remained of the night, but at ear- 

 liest dawn we started for the forester's hut. The road 

 to it passed through a narrow gorge, so enclosed by 

 steep hills, densely wooded with young oak, that it was 



