Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-03-30
THE GRAY WOLF.

I1ele vas &c
counted TO us by the old Marquis OAR
vile after dinner at the house Of the
Baron deIs Ravels, Saint-Hubert.
We had started stag during the
day. Th1 Re marquis was the only one of
the guests who had not taken part in
the pursuit. He never INDUCED in the
chase During the entire time of the
repast We had talked of little else than
the massacre of animals. Even the
women interested themselves in the
sanguinary and often incredible tales.
and the speakers mimicked the attack,
and the cOmbats between men and
beasts, gesticulating with their arms
and conyersing in excited tones.
VI. q Awhile spoke well, with a GER
tain air Of poetry, a trife sonorous, but
full Of effect. lie had often repeated
this history, therefore he spoke fuently,
not hesitating to find choice of words
in which to depict his images.
'Messieurs,' he said, Il have never
hunted, nor did my father, my grand
father or great grandfather This last
was the son of Il man who hunted
more than all Of you. lie died in 1764
| will tell you how.
He was named Jean, was married
and was the father of this child, who
was my REORGANIZATION and he lived
with his younger brother, Francois
d Aryille, in our chateau IL the midst
OF Il forest in Lorraine. Francois d'Ar-
vile had remained bachelor through
love of the chase. These two hunted
from one years end to the other, with
out repose, without stop, without lasSi-
tude They loved nothing else, under
stood nothing else, talked Of nothing
else, lived for nothing else than She
chase This terrible, memorable passion
possessed them to the heart, had inyad-
cd them entirely, leaving 10 place for
any .iling else.
They had prohibited any one from
intorrupting them during the chase
tor any purpose whatever My great
grandfather was born while his father
Nas following Il fox, and Jean d'Arville
instead Of intenupting til" run, swore
In the name Of the saints, the rascal
might better have waited until after the
hunt!
His brother Francois was even more
carried away by this passion than him
self. From the time he arose i'll the
morning he went to see the dogs, the
horses, then the shot birds in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the chateau, up to
the time OF leaving to start some large
game. They We're known throughout
the neighboring country as NJ. lie Mar
quiS and NJ. lie Cadet the mobiles of the
day not endeavoling like those of our
own time to establish a descending hier-
archy i'll titles; because the son of Il
marquis is no more a count, nor the son
Of Il yiscount Il baron than the son Of
Il general is Il colonel by birth; but the
shabby vanity Of our day finds profit
in this arrangement. / return to my
ancestors.
They were, it appears, huge, long,
hairy, violent and vigorous. The young
er, even taller than the elder, had a
voice SO strong that, according to Il
legend of which he was the hero, all the
leaves of the forest trembled when he
shouted. And when they leaped into
the saddle to depart for the chase i
was Il superb spectacle to see these
two giants bestriding their great horses.
Nov, toward the depth of the Win
ter of this year, 1864, the cold was eX-
cessive and the wolves became Zero
cious. They attacked the belated coun-
try people, wandered around the houses
at night, bowling from the setting t.
the rising of the sun, and depopulating
the stables.
And soon Il weird rumor circulated.
They talked of a colossal wolf, with
gray hair, almost white, who had eaten
two children, devoured a womans arm,
strangled all the watchdogs of the
country, and who penetrated without
fear into the Enclosures to sniff under
the doors. All the inhabitants declared
that they had heard this shuttle, and
that it had made the flames of the
lamps flicker And soon Il panic ran
through all the province Nobody dared
20 out after nightfall. The darkness
seemed to be haunted by images Of
the beast.
The dArville brothers resolved to
lind this animal and kill it, and they &C
CJ.dingly summoned all the gentlemen
of the country to Il grand chase. 1t
was III vain. They hunted the forest
over and searched the thicketS, but did
not encounter it. They killed plenty of
wolves, but not this one. And each
night, after the chase, the animal, as
though to avenge itself, attacked some
traveller or deyoured some cattle, always
Tar from the place where they had been
searching for it. At last one night it
penetrated the pig stable of TIL Chaau
d'Arville and ate the two finest porkers.
The two brothers We're intialned with
anger, considering this attack as Il bra
Il defiance. They took all their strong
bloodhounds, accustomed to the pursuit
of redoubtable beasts, and entered the
chase, their hearts provoked to fury.
From dawn until the hour when the
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 battied by
this wolf, they We're walking their hors-
es along Il path bordered by bushes,
when they were suddenly seized by a
sort of mysterious feeling.
This beast is not an ordinary one,
said the oldest. One would almost say
that he had human attributes
We should have Il ball blessed by
IA II, ~