THE CHASSE IN PRUSSIA. 287 



upon bis knees, he rolled over on his side, and very soon a 

 convulsive movement in all his members announced his 

 death. 



" This is an old rascal that has often escaped us," exclaimed 

 one of the keepers, who had recognised the animal. It was 

 a solitary and very old boar, and, upon examining his tusks, 

 sharp as a double-edged sword, we shuddered at the risks 

 poor little "Bellement" had incurred. As to the dog, satisfied, 

 but not vain of the victory, he was stretched upon the ground 

 close to the monster, and quietly licking the blood from his 

 feet and nose. The char-a-banc was sent for to carry away 

 the body of the victim, with the addition of two roebucks 

 which we added to our list ; after which, on the same even- 

 ing, furnished with a certificate in regular form as to the 

 legitimate source of the game we carried with us, we repassed 

 the gates of Berlin without being arrested as poachers, aiid 

 forwarded the produce of the day's chasse to the Compte de 



H , as in former days Meleager presented to the warlike 



Atalanta the head of the boar of Calydon. 



There is a great charm in travelling through a country one 

 has never before seen, but I consider that a greater still exists 

 in revisiting scenes full of pleasant associations, and this plea- 

 sure awaited me in Prussia upon my second trip to Berlin. 

 Once more I repaired to the village of Lancke, with its vast 

 empty chateau, capable of holding a regiment of soldiers, its 

 immense park, where an army might manoeuvre, and its 

 noble lakes and forests. I found the three gamekeepers at 

 their posts, whose honest and cheerful faces were more easy 

 to remember than their names, and last, though not really 

 the least, the little "Bellement," my hero of the former year, 

 concealing the heart of a lion beneath the modest appearance 

 of a poor little dog. I was cordially received by the Ober 

 Forster, an old soldier, with white hair and black mous- 

 tachios, a true Prussian grave, silent, rarely opening his 



