let us have the fact."

"The fact! Then I hate your long-tailed dogs, and your detestable
flights of noisy birds! Let me have them one by one, like larks in the
plain of St. Denis, and I'll soon clear the province for you."

"Upon my word, Adolphe, we should have something to thank you for!"

"I tell you what, Henri; those partridges, after all, are trumpery
things to kill. 'Tis mere hurry that prevents my hitting them. Don't
imagine I am frightened! If you wish to give me real pleasure, let us go
to India and shoot a lion or a tiger;--give me a chance with an
elephant!"

"Willingly; but allow me to suggest, that if we set out for India, we
shall not get back in time for dinner."

"We will keep in Europe, then; but, at least, show me some game worthy
of me. A serpent--I will cut him in two at a stroke. A bull--I will soon
send a brace of balls into him."

"Well done! just like a Parisian."

"Parisian! Pray what do you mean by that?"

"A boaster, if you prefer the word."

"Ha! ha! a boaster, indeed! Do you mean to say that I'm afraid of a
bull?"

"Of course not. However, as there are no bulls here, I will send the
head _piqueur_ upon the track of a wild boar which was seen near the
chateau last night; he will exactly suit you. I consider him as doomed."

"Thank you, Henri; thank you; the moment I am fairly in front of him, I
shall fire at his eyes, and no doubt lodge both balls in them. Poor
Belisarius! how he will charge me in his agony! but I shall retire,
reload, and then, having drawn my hunting-knife, dispatch him without
further ceremony."

"Never fear, you shall have the post of honour; and if you do not turn
upon your heel, why, my dear friend, you will rise at least a dozen pegs
in my estimation."

"Turn on my heel! you little know me; and then, what a sensation I shall
create in Paris with my boar's skin. I'll have it stuffed, gild his
tusks, and silver-mount his hoofs. I shall be quite the hero of the
_salons_."

That very afternoon orders were given to the head-keeper to send the
_traqueurs_ into the forest on the following day, and on their return,
they announced that not only traces of wild boar had been met with, but
one had actually been seen. Great were the preparations and cleaning of
rifles and _couteaux-de-chasse_ when this intelligence was received;
but, in spite of his assumed composure, Adolphe's ardour seemed
considerably to diminish, and the conversation that evening over the
f