sist wine. These last are always found in a boar hunt.

The preparation for this sport shows that it is seriously regarded.
All who take part in it must eat lightly on that morning. The host,
before starting, gives such instructions as he thinks necessary,
especially to listen for a shout of "Take care!" Also, he warns all
present against the boar when he seems to be dying or even dead, for
the brute is capable of doing great damage in the very article of
death. The final words spoken on these occasions are always solemn--

"And may God have us in His keeping."

Although ladies were allowed upon this hunt, and were even armed with
hunting knives, it was not expected, nor indeed permitted, that they
should take an active part in it, being mostly spectators, and
especially keeping at a safe distance when the final tussle with the
boar is on. A full-grown boar, luckily, is bulky and noisy and not
swift of foot, as reckoned with other animals, so it is quite possible
to see the sport without being in actual danger. I was in hopes that
this was Gaston Cheverny's plan, but found I was mistaken. He had
acquired considerable dexterity with his left arm, and carried his
boar spear in his left hand with both ease and strength. But the
command of a left arm gained by a man after he is thirty years of age
is not to be depended upon in an encounter with the most savage animal
of which we have any record.

We set out as soon as the king appeared, and proceeded to a place in
the forest, about two leagues away, in which the beaters had found for
us a _marcassin_, or wild pig, which would afford very good sport, and
not so dangerous as a full-grown boar. But the lovers of danger in our
party--and there were many--I knew, would never be satisfied with
hunting the pig, and there would probably be some dangerous business
before we returned to the castle. We had dogs of the ancient
boar-hound breed, black marked with tan, as large as mastiffs, and
with prodigious ears. Our _piqueurs_ were especially trained to hunt
the boar, and it was inspiring to see how both men and dogs took to
their work. We reached the forest before the sun was high. The woods
had already been beaten by boys with kiaki--a kind of wooden clapper,
of which the name describes the noise. The _marcassin_ had been found,
and the dogs put in at once. The whole thing could have been over in
fifteen minutes, but the piqueurs, with great skill, managed to make a
whole morni