290 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



peeping above the tops of the cover, whilst " Bellement" was 

 beating the hidden retreats beneath. Two foxes and three 

 roedeer were successively viewed, but none of them came 

 within shot of us; at length, at the extremity of a small 

 ravine, immediately opposite, I observed some dark object 

 suddenly issue, then return into the cover, and repeat the 

 same manoeuvre several times, as if undecided as to its 

 movements. The sharp tongue of the little dog, however, 

 soon put an end to the hesitation of this wandering phantom, 

 and I beheld a large wild-boar, with head bowed and tail 

 erect, galloping down the slope of the hill, and making for 

 the forest on my right. I ran as hard as my legs would 

 carry me to cut off his retreat, and finding myself distanced, 

 fired almost in despair, but he only ran the faster, and dis- 

 appeared beneath the beech-trees, the nuts of which he had 

 been feasting upon. My shot was soon answered by two 

 others at no great distance, and some plaintive sounds an- 

 nounced that these had been more fatal than my own. 

 What I had taken for a boar was an old sow, who in her 

 flight had abandoned a family of thirteen great marcassms, 

 in fact, nearly half-grown pigs. The keepers had killed one. 

 I pushed my way into the cover head foremost, and shortly 

 another marcassin bolted nearly between my legs, but not 

 being able to get a clear sight of it through the thickets, I 

 fired in the direction of the moving branches, and the whole 

 troop were soon scattered about in all directions, leaving us 

 only a very small tithe of their number. 



In the meantime " Bellement" had disappeared. We called, 

 whistled, and fired in the air, but could hear nothing of him, 

 nor could imagine what was become of him. We searched 

 carefully around, halloed, whistled, and used the most 

 caressing epithets, but no signs of the hound. 



"Either the dog is killed," remarked one of the keepers, 

 "or another marcassin is wounded." 



