inducing them to visit the mansion.

The day, or rather the appointed evening, having arrived (a star or
moonlight night being selected), the assembled huntsmen, and a long line
of servants, betake themselves to the forest, leading by the head four
calves, and carrying with them a cask of cold meat, a hamper of wine, a
box of cigars, and a horse-load of pale _cogniac_--a few camels and
dromedaries added to this cavalcade, and one would have a complete
picture of a tribe of Bedouins preparing to pass the Great Desert.
Arrived in the forest about nightfall, and well and duly shut up in
their Gibraltar of wood, the sportsmen may eat, drink, and smoke, and
converse in an undertone; but a heavy fine is invariably inflicted on
those who make the least noise. No one is permitted to sneeze, talk
loud, or laugh; as to blowing one's nasal organ vigorously, the thing is
absolutely forbidden; no one is allowed to have a cold, much less an
influenza, for at least eight hours, and every sportsman is careful that
the wine and the viands take each their proper line of road; if either
should unfortunately diverge, the gentleman must choke rather than
cough--as to the servants, they do every thing by gesture and signal;
and woe betide the John that speaks--chance may be, his tongue is thrown
to the wolves.

When night has set in, the four calves are led out from the stockade and
fastened to strong posts which have been fixed in front of each face of
the hut. Silence now reigns supreme, and the wolves,--the spur of famine
in their insides, mad in short with hunger,--begin to sniff the breeze
and run their noses over the rank dewy grass of the underwood. At this
point of my narrative I must bespeak the forbearance of the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and beg them to read on to the
end, and weigh well the question and the result, before they bring an
action against me for what follows. The calves in question having been
placed, they each--must I write it?--receive an incision in the neck,
the effect of which is that the blood flows slowly, and they bleat
without ceasing;--such is the custom, as it is said, with butchers to
make veal white and pleasing to the eye of the epicure; a really inhuman
habit--but when the deed is done with a view to the extermination of
wolves, I think there is little doubt but Mr. Martin himself would have
used a fleam in the cause.

This operation over, the sportsmen divide, post themselves,