240 A MONTH IN THE FORESTvS OE PRANCE. 



less and less, and at last ended in the wildest and 

 most pathless portion of the immense wood. One 

 thing there alone pleased me : I came on the usings 

 of a litter of boars. There were the paths made bj 

 the marcassins, and where they had basked in the 

 sun or had their games at play. Finding that I 

 could not make my way out of the wood, I gave 

 Coco his head, when he gaily followed what seemed 

 to be a weak place in the bushes, but soon after 

 came to a halt, and as much as told me he knew no 

 more of the matter than I did. 



Nothing remained to me then but a reflection as to 

 the wind and position of the sun when 1 came into 

 that thick portion of the woods ; and, drawing thus an 

 observation from things above me, I set Coco's head 

 towards the ride in the cover whence I had come, and, 

 after a vast deal of thrusting and rough work, gained 

 it, and then had to race in order to make up for lost 

 time. Faintly now and then the cry of hounds and 

 the horn reached me, and I kept approaching these 

 sounds, save when they were excluded by some 

 intervening hill. At one of these moments I came 

 on a peasant at work in a field, and cried out, 

 " Where are the hounds ? " He pointed in their 

 direction ; when, seeing I galloped by the indication 

 of his hand, he cried out, " No, not that way for 



