Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches Part 12

"Very well, let us proceed to another," we exclaimed. But the second was p.r.o.nounced more lugubrious and melancholy-looking than the first, and the third not more agreeable than the preceding one.

"It is no longer a matter of doubt," said the Parisian; "you are a family of owls. What! place myself in these holes, these mouse-traps, in these tumuli of leaves, where the archfiend himself, habituated to every kind of darkness, could not distinguish anything?--thank you, gentlemen.

As to you, you can see clear; but by the great telescope of the observatory, if I were to get into one of these rustic ovens, I should not in five minutes be able to distinguish the end of my nose--I should not be able to find my way to my breeches-pocket."

"But, my dear sir," said I to him, when alone, for my two friends were now snugly seated in the rejected huts, "you are very difficult to please, and it becomes embarra.s.sing, for these cabins are all alike; when you have seen one you have seen a dozen. Now this, believe me, is a capital one; come, seat yourself here."

"I am much obliged to you, not that one; for this pool of water in particular has something very sinister about it; the spot feels raw, and has an unpleasant wolfish air."

What was to be done? While debating thus, I remembered that at some little distance from the place where we then were, stood two large farms, Les Fermes des Amandiers, and that, at a distance of half a mile beyond them, there was a magnificent _Mare_, in the style, it is true, of _Mare_ No. 2, large and open, and yet it would be as useless to wait for woodc.o.c.ks there as it would be to hope to catch a trout in the basins of Trafalgar-square. Such a spot seemed to me admirably calculated for the banker; I resolved, therefore, to conduct him to it.

"If this hut does not please you," said I, "follow me, and quickly."

"Where are you going to take me?"

"Oh! do not alarm yourself, I have just thought of a place that will suit you exactly: a charming spot, delightfully scented by a thicket of honeysuckles; but you must be on the alert. See, the sun is nearly below the summit of the tallest oaks--we shall not have more than one hour of daylight; and I must return here."

When we arrived at the _Mare_ of which I was in search, the immediate neighbourhood of it was already silent and deserted. "Heavens!" said the enchanted banker, "what a delightful spot! Quick!--where shall I place myself? Let us look for the hut--ha! here it is, but half in ruins;" for it had not, in all probability, been occupied three times in the last three years; we were obliged therefore to cut some branches, and roughly repair it; and the banker, having crept into the interior, like a sweep up a chimney, requested to have his last instructions.

"Well, when night has nearly closed in," said I, laughing under my moustache, "be on the _qui vive_. The woodc.o.c.ks will be here, but move not; be like a statue for a few minutes; let them approach--let them come, fly and whirl, and look about them; then, when rea.s.sured by your silence, they will fall into the shallow water, paddle in the gra.s.s, and plunging throw their legs into the air. At that moment they are yours.

Take your time and a deliberate aim, and miss them not. The sport over, remain where you are, and on our return we will join you."

"All you say is very clear and very pretty," replied the banker; "but I feel already a horrid cramp in my left leg; and if I am to remain crumpled up in this hut, like a Turk taking his coffee, or like a monkey gnawing an apple, when you come for me I shall have lost the use of my limbs."

"Oh! if that is likely to be your fate, walk about--stretch your legs; you have yet twenty minutes before dark. Adieu, sir, adieu; and good luck attend you; for myself, I must be off to my post." But I had gone scarcely thirty yards when he shouted after me, "Oh! Henri--my dear young friend--come back. Here! see, a pack of wolves! What do I say? no; a whole family of bears has pa.s.sed this way! Look! the border of the _Mare_ is ploughed up by the feet of these savage brutes."

"Bears, sir! those marks are merely the trampling of the shepherds'

dogs."

"Shepherds' dogs! Stoop down--look closer; do you mean to tell me that the shepherds' dogs have made these prints of cloven feet in the mud?"

"No! those are holes made by the young calves from some neighbouring farm, that came to drink here," I replied, repressing a laugh.

"Nonsense! Henri; calves, indeed! they are the marks of buffaloes and wild boars. You cannot deceive me; for I know something about such things. Why, this _Mare_ is, I have no doubt, the rendezvous of all the beasts of the forest for ten miles round. Thank you, I don't intend to remain here."

"Not remain! why you will, if you are correct, have far better fun than we shall. Come, get into the hut."

"Remain with me, and divide the honour of the sport."

"Me? no: I thank you,--adieu! and keep your eyes about you."

"Halloo! Henri, come back. By the spectacles of my grandmother, what will become of me? I am a fool! I have lost my sight--I have forgot my eye-gla.s.s."

"Try to do without it."

"Impossible! it is useless--without an eye-gla.s.s I cannot see a yard before me; I shall most certainly leave this _Mare_. I shall be off with you."

"My dear sir," said I to him, "you must know and feel that if I thought there was the most remote chance of danger, I would not leave you alone; you really have nothing to fear--if you come with me, you will be dreadfully in the way, and without doing the least possible good. The huts are so very small, that there is only sufficient room for one: we shall kill nothing, and be laughed at into the bargain."

"But these terrible quadrupeds; what if they should come and devour me when you are gone?"

"I tell you you have nothing to fear."

"Very well, then I will believe you; after all, I am not a coward, but a man: a royal tiger would not frighten me, and in spite of these sombre looking trees waving to and fro, this silence, and the solitary look of the place, I remain; yes, by Jupiter, I remain; only barricade me in the rear, cut some thick branches, palisade me well round--there, now I think you may leave me, I require nothing more--and yet one word; if I were in danger, do you think you would hear me if I called?"

"Certainly, a whisper may almost be heard in the forest at night--the trees conduct the slightest sound."

"Well, then, give me a shake of your hand. Adieu."

"Adieu, sir; be patient, and, above all, wait for our return."

"Let me alone for that; never fear my leaving this hut alone."

"And cover your head well, for nothing is so likely to give one cold as the night air rus.h.i.+ng into the ears."

"And mind, now, don't pray forget me. If you are not here in three-quarters of an hour, I shall fire signals of distress, and make the forest ring again with my maledictions."

But without waiting to hear anything further, I was off, and soon reached my post. The sport, as usual, was pretty good; my friends and myself killed four couple of woodc.o.c.ks, and the _affut_ over, we turned our steps towards the banker's cabin. No report of a gun had yet been heard in his direction, but suddenly, and when we were scarcely five hundred paces from the hut, and I was on the point of announcing our arrival by a shrill whistle--two barrels were discharged one after the other--then followed a long and heavy groan, and after that a cry of distress. In a few seconds we bounded to the spot, and found our friend stretched on the gra.s.s outside his hut, without his hat, his eyes staring wildly about him, and his hair in disorder. He was trembling with emotion, and pointed to a black animal, half hid in the water and the rushes, which seemed very large, and was rolling from side to side in the agonies of approaching death. Fright, downright fright, had tied the banker's tongue; and while he is collecting his senses, allow me to tell you, good reader, what had occurred in our absence.

Dumb and motionless, as directed, he had, during half an hour, waited anxiously for the woodc.o.c.ks; but the woodc.o.c.ks had for a very long time forgotten the road to this _Mare_; not one came--there was no sport for him. He had already fancied he heard us returning in the distance, and that his cramped legs would be set at liberty, and his twisted body again a.s.sume the perpendicular, when all at once a cold perspiration stood upon his brow, terror seized him; for behind, nay, almost close to him, he heard advancing the heavy tramp and loud breathing of a wild beast, and before he had time to observe what kind of an animal it was, the brute pa.s.sed so close to the hut that he pressed it down, and rushed on to the _Mare_. More dead than alive, the banker lay half-squeezed in a corner of his cabin, and panting for breath, dared scarcely move.

After a few minutes, however, he hazarded a careful glance outside, and not twenty paces from him saw the immense quadruped bathing, and rolling himself quietly in the water.

"It is a gigantic boar," said he to himself, "as large as a horse, and as old as Methuselah--no doubt the patriarch of the forest--what tusks he must have! Let us observe." And with a courage which did him credit, he, after some time, suppressed his fear, and felt in the pocket of his game-bag for two b.a.l.l.s, which, with trembling hands, he slipped into his gun. After this he again looked out, and reconnoitred the movements of the enemy; but so great was the obscurity, that he could discover nothing--unless, indeed, it was a dark ma.s.s which walked and jumped hither and thither, rolled, frolicked, and rejoiced in his refres.h.i.+ng bath. The heart of the Parisian was greatly agitated, and beat as if it would split his flannel waistcoat; nevertheless, he took good and deliberate aim at the black object in front, and though exceedingly terrified, he c.o.c.ked his gun, and in a perfect fever of excitement let fly both barrels, falling immediately backwards in a corner of his hut, perfectly bewildered with his own courage. A deep groan followed, and at the end of a few minutes of agony and suspense, our friend, seeing no tiger in the act of springing upon him, hazarded another look, when he still heard the creature moaning, and groaning, and floundering in the water.

The fact was, he had by a miracle, and without seeing, done that which he never could have done at mid-day,--his two b.a.l.l.s had perforated the animal's head and neck. Observing the monster raising itself with difficulty, and endeavouring to withdraw its legs from the sticky mud in which they were fixed, the courage of despair rushed into his heart--he left the hut, upsetting everything in his way, and precipitated himself upon his adversary with a view of despatching him with the b.u.t.t end of his gun, or making him retreat further into the _Mare_, when imagine his consternation and fear,--at the very moment his uplifted arm was stretched out, like Jupiter's in the act of hurling a thunderbolt, the animal raised himself on his haunches, looked him full in the face, opened two enormous jaws, put up two very long ears, and instead of a roar full of rage and ferocity, sent forth the most agonizing and dolorous bray that was ever heard from the throat of any a.s.s, French, English, or Spanis.h.!.+ Yes! it was an a.s.s the banker had mortally wounded; an unfortunate a.s.s, which, driven by thirst and the heat of the weather, had left his shed at the neighbouring farm-house, to quench it and refresh himself with a bath.

Surprise, shame, horror, and confusion began to dance a polka in the banker's brain, and made him utter the hoa.r.s.e cry which we had heard.

While we were yet gazing at each other the poor creature, by a last effort, raised his bleeding head once more above the water, and collecting all the strength he had left, scrambled from the _Mare_, gave a half-suffocating and plaintive bray, and casting a look full of reproach upon the gasping banker, which seemed to say, "I die, but I forgive you," fell dead at our feet.

A convulsion of laughter from the party, now all a.s.sembled, followed; even the birds, awakened from their slumbers, began to sing and partake of the general hilarity.

"Halloo! Mr. Three per Cent.," said one, "this is what you call sporting, is it--killing starved woodc.o.c.ks? Fie! sir."

"You are three infamous vagabonds," replied the Parisian, catching his breath, and picking up his hat.

"What! sir."

"Why, you are a trinity of rascals, I repeat."

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Abominable hypocrites, I say; this is a piece of acting, a trick which you have kindly put upon me--this a.s.s was driven here by you, or by some one at your suggestion; I see clearly how it is."

"See clearly, do you? it is a pity, then, you did not a few minutes ago."

"It is an infernal plot, I say; think you that I came into this wretched country of forests to kill donkeys?"

"Well! but whose fault is it, sir; why did you not bring your eye-gla.s.s?"

"My eye-gla.s.s; I don't require one, gentlemen, to enable me to see that you have made a fool of me."