desperate defence. The dogs, fierce and foaming after
their three hours' chase, precipitated themselves upon him with a fury
which was redoubled by the shouts and oaths of the king. The hunters
arranged themselves in a circle, Charles a little in front, having behind
him the Duke of Alencon, who carried an arquebuss, and Henry of Navarre,
who was armed only with a _couteau-de-chasse_. The duke unslung his
arquebuss and lit the match; Henry loosened his hunting-knife in the
scabbard. As to the Duke of Guise, who affected to despise field-sports,
he kept himself a little apart with his gentlemen; and on the other side
another little group was formed by the ladies. All eyes were fixed in
anxious expectation upon the boar.

A little apart stood a _piqueur_, exerting all his strength to resist the
efforts of two enormous dogs, who awaited, covered with their coats of
mail, howling savagely, and struggling as though they would break their
chains, the moment when they should be let loose upon the boar. The latter
did wonders. Attacked at one time by forty dogs, that covered him like a
living wave or many-coloured carpet, and strove on all sides to tear his
wrinkled and bristling hide, he, at each blow of his formidable tusk,
tossed one of his assailants ten feet into the air. The dogs fell to the
ground ripped up, and threw themselves, with their bowels hanging out of
their wounds, once more into the _melee_; whilst Charles, with hair on
end, inflamed eyes, and distended nostrils, bent forward over the neck of
his foaming steed and sounded a furious _hallali_. In less than ten
minutes twenty dogs were disabled.

"The mastiffs!" cried Charles; "the mastiffs!"

At the word, the _piqueur_ slipped the leashes, and the two dogs dashed
into the midst of the carnage, upsetting the smaller hounds, and with
their iron-coated sides forcing their way to the boar, whom they seized
each by an ear. The animal, feeling himself _coiffe_, as it is termed,
gnashed his teeth with pain and fury.

"Bravo, Duredent! Bravo, Risquetout!" vociferated Charles. "Courage, my
dogs! a spear! a spear!"

"Will you have my arquebuss?" said the Duke of Alencon.

"No," cried the king. "No--one does not feel the ball go in; there is no
pleasure in that. One feels the spear. A spear! a spear!"

A boar-spear made of wood hardened in the fire and tipped with iron, was
handed to the king. "Be cautious, brother!" exclaimed Margaret.

"_Sus, sus_, sire!" cried