284 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



were very unfortunate in the positions we took up. We 

 found game everywhere, and the sharp notes of " Bellement," 

 who gave tongue two or three times upon a roebuck, and 

 about twice as many on a stag, warned us to be prepared 

 with both hand and eye. Nothing, however, broke cover 

 near us ; it was always either to the right or the left, behind 

 or before, too soon or too late, never in the nick of time and 

 place. Sometimes we distinguished in the distance that 

 gentle gallop or rather canter over the dead leaves (quadru- 

 pedantem sonitum) so welcome to the ears of a chasseur. 

 The sound approaches a form appears amongst the trees 

 our rifle is at the shoulder the finger on the trigger, but 

 alas ! there are no more horns than on my hand a hind 

 or a doe ! It was too provoking. The time sped onwards, 

 the evening was approaching, and we had not fired a shot ; 

 but hope, which never leaves a man until death, does not 

 abandon the sportsman until the close of night. 



At length, from one beat to another, we arrived at a spot I 

 recollected having noticed in the morning. It was a coppice 

 of young pines, from eight to ten years old, and planted so 

 near to each other that they almost resembled a palisade. 

 I was posted in a narrow ride or path in the centre 

 of this cover, and already distinguished the noise of the 

 keepers approaching, and the strokes of their sticks upon the 

 trees; already "Bellement" had arrived to warm himself 

 between my legs. There was nothing to expect from this 

 beat. The rain still continued to fall, not in violent showers, 

 but with a slow and steady obstinacy. Leaning against a 

 tree for a little shelter, and covering the locks of my rifle 

 with the tail of my shooting-jacket, I rested sometimes on 

 one leg, sometimes on the other, like a fowl on its perch, and, 

 despairing of any sport, lit my cigar, and gave a free course 

 to my reflections. 



I was almost lost in reverie when I heard a slight move- 



