336 " THEN UP HE ROSE AND DOFFED HIS CLOTHES." 



" Anything more ? " thinks I : "I must doff some 

 of this, or I suppose I shall be taken for some 

 overgrown monkey, escaped from the back of a 

 dromedary led about for exhibition." After, there- 

 fore, to the great chagrin of the baron, putting aside 

 the pink for a more promising occasion, we, accompa- 

 nied by the big-headed animal with the stump, took 

 our places in the fiacre ; the Frenchman in high glee, 

 anticipating, (as he assured me we should do,) faire 

 grande chasse, I beginning to suspect myself of being 

 the ass I was, in supposing it possible to get any- 

 thing like hunting in the district of Bergues. Con- 

 cluding still that something of the sort would be 

 attempted, I made up my mind to be amused by the 

 ridiculous, if I could not be gratified by anything 

 better. " Journeying with this intent," on my part, 

 the baron every ten minutes putting forth his head 

 to hurry the driver, with as much sign of anxiety 

 and importance as if he feared a fox would have 

 broke and gone away over as clipping a country as 

 England could produce, he all at once changed his 

 note, and now screeched as furiously to him to stop, 

 as if life or death depended on his instant compli- 

 ance. Even before this could be accomplished, out 

 bolted the baron, and after him the stump-tailed 

 quadruped. Looking from the window, I saw the 

 former going at top-speed, the latter following at the 

 same pace; presently the greatest chasseur of the 

 province came to a full stop ; bang went one barrel, 

 and, as I suppose, to make assurance doubly sure, 

 bang went the other. Into the hedge rushed Stump ; 

 into the hedge rushed the baron, the hedge shaking 

 to its very foundation, as if some mighty conflict 

 was going on within its precincts. I concluded that 



