een
wandering for that distance in the most beautiful part of the forest of
Erveau, and that if by any chance he had deviated a little more to the
right in his unpleasant steeple-chase across the woods, he would have
gone, in a straight line, eighty-six miles without meeting house or
cottage or human soul until he found himself at the gates of Dijon,
chief town of the Cote-d'Or, where he might and would, no doubt, have
been able to refresh himself with a bottle of Beaune and inspect the
Gothic tombs of the great Dukes of Burgundy.

Grateful was the unlucky lad to think that he had not taken this road,
and truly glad was he when, under the woodcutter's care, he reached his
uncle's white house. No sooner, however, was he fairly recovered from
his misadventure, than he packed up his superb cambric shirts, his Lyons
silk socks, patent leather boots, and white Jouvin gloves; squeezed the
hand of his aunt, gave a doubtful shake to that of his uncle, and
started in the _malle poste_ for the capital. His father's brother and
Le Morvan never saw him more.

Such adventures, however, as these are rare, and you must have, indeed,
a double dose of bad fortune to be lost in such a woful way, and spend,
without meeting any mortal soul, thirty long hours in the woods: for
though the tract of forest is very extensive, there are strewed, here
and there, several merry villages, large farms, and hunting-boxes,
snugly hidden, it is true, beneath the trees,--but which an experienced
huntsman very soon discovers when he stands in need of assistance or a
night's lodging.

CHAPTER VII.

Charms of a forest life to the sportsman--The Poachers--Le Pere
Seguin--His knowledge of the woods and of the rivers--The first
buck--A bad shot.

However dangerous the forests of Le Morvan may be, and certainly are, to
the citizen of Paris, whose knowledge of wood-craft, whatever may have
been his delightful visions of forest life, of fairy revels, and
hair-breadth escapes, is about equal to his proficiency in navigation,
they are no labyrinth to the true sportsman of this province; in his
mind, they are mapped with an accuracy perfectly astonishing to the
uninitiated in the countless indications of nature, of which the eye of
man becomes so keenly observant when thrown constantly into her
fascinating society. Let a man of a vigorous health, active frame, and
contemplative mind once enter, even for a short time, upon the
enjoyments