54 A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



clean basis on which to build the breadth of muscle 

 so necessary to speed and endurance. Again I stood 

 in that well-built kennel-yard, and tried to discover 

 what ailed the hounds ; and the more I studied them 

 the more was I confounded. In short, all the dis- 

 eases I had ever known in the whole course of my 

 experience seemed to have run into each other, and 

 fastened on this devoted kennel. 



*^ Ha ! here's a hound dying," I exclaimed, on 

 seeing a head, neck, and shoulders struggling in the 

 straw. " Oh, no, it isn't ; it's the half of a hound 

 alive. I say, my good friends, what do you keep 

 this poor old cripple for ? " 



For the benefit of the object I have in view, I will 

 describe him. A wild boar had caught him with his 

 tusk, on one of his thighs and on one loin. The 

 entire thigh, on one side, where the tusk struck, was 

 destroyed, nothing but the remains of it left, to the 

 end of which depended a wasted leg and foot. Too 

 short to touch the ground, it was only flourished in 

 the way of accompaniment to locomotion ; while the 

 loin was also fallen away, as well as the other hind- 

 leg, the latter scarcely able to support the emaciated 

 frame. 



I repeat, " What on earth makes you keep this 

 poor old cripple ? " 



