THE CHASSE AT ARMANVILLIERS. Ill 



his chief huntsman, and followed by all the field to the taillis, 

 where the stag had been tracked. There a portion of the 

 pack was uncoupled, which, dashing into the midst of the 

 underwood, soon made the forest resound with their deep yet 

 musical notes. A chorus of horns sounded the royale, and 

 shortly afterwards a noble stag, his wide antlers thrown well 

 back over his shoulders, burst from the thickets and bounded 

 across the road at no very great distance from where I was 

 stationed ; and attempting by every means in my power to 

 restrain the impatience or soothe the physical irritation of 

 my steed, which this circumstance tended by no means to 

 diminish, and as that part of the wood into which the stag 

 had entered had been recently cut, and presented more of 

 the appearance of a copse than other sections of the forest I 

 had traversed, I joined several other adventurous horsemen, 

 and followed the chase into the cover, but had not advanced 

 very far before I heartily repented the step I had taken. 

 I might just as well pull against a stone wall as my horse's 

 mouth; and as we began to get amongst the trees, my knees 

 and arms not only came in dangerous proximity to the 

 trunks, but, like a billiard-ball, I was now and then absolutely 

 making a cannon from one to the other. I saw plainly that 

 if I meant to escape with whole limbs, this state of things 

 would not do, and I adopted a plan which I should recom- 

 mend to any one under similar circumstances, and with a 

 similar animal. Having with difficulty stopped my horse, 

 I procured a stout ash stick of about two feet in length, 

 around which I twisted the bridle in several tight folds, so 

 that by grasping each side of it, I had a tremendous power 

 of tension and leverage over the mouth of niy Kosinante, 

 and one which it was to be supposed nothing but the 

 breaking of reins themselves could resist. I found this plan 

 answer tolerably well, and by thus guiding, or rather steer- 

 ing my hunter, managed to thread my way through the 



