100 A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



trotting on, occasionally pausing in a sort of half 

 " bay " that is perfectly heart-breaking to me, or to 

 any huntsman loving the hound and longing to slay 

 the quarry. A boar of this sort thus obtains many 

 opportunities for killing and maiming the hounds ; 

 while at the same moment, like the ancient Scottish 

 moss-trooper on the Border, he selects his own time 

 and place for fight or flight, without giving the foe 

 he dreads yet dares, the chance of coming to close 

 quarters unless at a disadvantage. From the w^eak- 

 ness of the pack, I once knew a sow whom we had 

 surrounded by the aid of many men in blouses, in a 

 considerable but detached portion of the woods, 

 actually reverse the position of things, and chase 

 and beat our hounds out of cover; and when she 

 found they were no longer on her line, then she 

 took the opportunity of breaking away unobserved, 

 and eventually escaping. When the boars are thus 

 wicked, and there are roe- deer, foxes, or hares, or, in 

 short, anything at hand that is less dangerous, better 

 to eat, and more easily killed, of course the cunning 

 old French hounds, all of whom have been entered by 

 their owners at all these animals, even to the rabbit, 

 immediately desist from the dangerous pursuit and. 

 adopt some safer one ; so that, unless the huntsmen 

 and gentlemen immediately make in to cheer up and 



