The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1892-05-07

vado from the monster, direct injury, a
defiance. They took all their strong
bloodhoHnds, accustomed to the pursri:
of redoubtable beasts. and entered the
chase. their hearts provoked to fury.
From dawn until the hour when th
purple sun descended behind the great.
bare trees, they beat the thickets with
out finding anything. Finally, both
furious and desolate, and astonished that
all their skill had been baffied by this
wolf, they were walking their horses
along a path bordered by bushes, when
they were. suddenly seized by "a sort of
mysterious fear.
"'This beast is not an ordinary one,
said the Oldest. One would almost say
that he had human attributes
We should have ball blessed by
our cousin, the bishop, said the younger:
or have some priest pronounce the neces-
sary words He ceased speaking.
See how red the sun is,' replied
Jean. The big wolf will do some
wickedness this night
He had hardly spoken these words
when his horse reared; that of Francois
began kicking. A large clump of bushes
covered with dead leaves opened in front
OF them, and colossal beast, all gray,
sprang up and ran off into the woods.
Both brothers emitted sort of Joyous
grunt, and bending over the chests of
their stupid horses they threw them for
ward with all their strength. rushing
them ahead at such pace, exciting
them, urging them on with voice, ges-
ture and spur, that the powerful riders
seemed to carry their heavy beasts be-
tween their thighs, and to lift them up
as though they would fly away With
them. They went thus. belly to the
ground, breaking through the thickets,
crossing the ravines, climbing the hills.
descending the glens and sounding the
horn with full lungs to attract the at
tention Of their companions and their
dogs.
"All of a sudden, in this wild run, my
great-great-grandfather dashed his fore
head against an enormous branch, which
split his skull, and he fell to the ground
stone dead. His horse, mad with fright,
disappeared in the shadows that en-
veloped the wood.
THE younger d'Arville stopped short,
jumped to the ground, seized his brother
in his arms and saw that his brains
were pouring from the wound, with his
blood. Then he seated himself beside
the body, took the red and disfgured
head upon his knee and contemplated
the immobile face of his elder brother.
Little by little a fear invaded him, a
singular fear which he had never felt
before; the fear Of the shadow, the fea,
of the solitude, fear of the deserted
wood, also fear of the fantastic wolf
which had killed his brother to venge it.
self upon them.
Darkness was falling rapidly, and the
sharp cold made the trees crackle. Fran
co.'s rose up shivering, incapable of re-
naming there longer, feeling himself
almost fainting. One could hear moth
ing, neither the voices of the dogs, MOI
the sound of horns; all was silent. And
this gloomy silence of freezing night had
in it something horrible and strange.
HE seized the colossal frame of Jean
in his hands, lifted it up and laid it across
the saddle, in order to carry it back to
the chateau. Then he slowly started to
return, his mind wandering as if he
were tipsy and pursued by horrible and
startling images. Suddenly in his path
way through the night monstrous form
passed.
SIT was the beast.
"a shock of fright agitated the hunt
er; something cold, like drop of water,
glided along his loins, and, like frial
haunted by the devil, he made the sign
of the cross. He was distracted by this
sudden temperance of the frightful
wanderer. But his eyes fell upon the
inert corpse lying before him. and his
fear Immediately changing into choler.
he shook with rage. Then he spurred his
horse and dashed after the wolf. He
followed it through the copse. through
ravines and through the forest. travers-
ing woods which he no longer recog
nized, his eye fixed upon the gray spot
which flew before him in the night His
horse also seemed animated by an I'M
known force and ardor. He galloped
straight ahead with outstretched neck,
the head and feet of the dead man across
the saddle dashing against trees and
rocks. The brambles tore the hair OF
the corpse, the forehead battered the
enormous tree trunks, scattering them
with blood. the spurs ripped the bark to
tatters.
Suddenly the animal and its pursue1
emerged from the forest and rushed into
u valley just as the moon appeared above
the mountains This valley was closed