166 A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



severed on different scents ; and mj friends and my- 

 self did the like, according as our ears served us. 

 Mj pet Coco hated to be away from M. d'Anchald's 

 horse, and we had had several contests about it, all 

 of which of course terminated in my favour. Coco 

 often refused to go any other way than after the 

 horse he knew, and had a remarkable distaste to 

 jumping any ditch into cover, though he never 

 refused to jump out. At one time during this day 

 the rain made such a noise through the leaves of the 

 thick copse, that I was washed out of all hearing; 

 so, seeing two little peasant boys, I called them to 

 me, much to their terror, as they had probably never 

 before seen an Englishman. To these boys I put 

 some questions ; and, while answering me, by way 

 of shelter from the storm and my presence, they had 

 crept beneath the bushes. They confessed to hear- 

 ing a horn and hounds ; so, availing myself of the 

 direction they indicated, I gave Coco the hint to 

 jump a ditch into the wood from the little meadow 

 we were in, which he stoutly refused. Dear Coco's 

 action, when he fought, consisted only of rearing and 

 plunging, on which occasion, his mouth being so 

 beautifully fine, I dropped the curb on account of his 

 rearing, and took him on the snafHe ; this always 

 enabled him to bolt a short distance, when so in- 



