Led Astray and The Sphinx | Page 6

man's vanity
enjoy such a treat! This charming person added that I had threatened
her, and that I had jumped at her horse's bridle like the specter of the
forest of Mans.[A]
The response to this marvelous story is a general and enthusiastic
shout:

"Let us chase him! let us surround him! let us track him! hip, hip,
hurrah!"--whereupon the whole cavalry force starts off at a gallop in
the direction given by the amiable story teller.
I had, to all appearances, but to remain quietly ensconced in my
hiding-place in order to completely foil the hunters who were going in
search of me in the avenue where I had met the beautiful Amazon.
Unfortunately, I had the unlucky idea, for greater safety, of making my
way into the opposite thicket. As I was cautiously crossing the open
space, a wild shout of joy informs me that I have been discovered; at
the same time, I see the whole squadron wheeling about and coming
down upon me like a torrent. There remained but one reasonable course
for me to pursue; it was to stop, to affect the surprise of a quiet stroller
disturbed in his walk, and to disconcert my assailants by an attitude at
once simple and dignified; but, seized with a foolish shame which it is
easier to conceive than to explain--convinced, moreover, that a
vigorous effort would be sufficient to rid me of this importunate pursuit
and to spare me the annoyance of an explanation--I commit the
error--the ever deplorable error--of hurrying on faster, or rather, to be
frank with you, of running away as fast as my legs would carry me. I
cross the road like a hare, I penetrate into the thicket, greeted on my
passage with a volley of joyous clamors. From that moment my fate
was sealed; all honorable explanation became impossible for me; I had
ostensibly accepted the struggle with its most extreme chances.
However, I still possessed a certain presence of mind, and while tearing
furiously through the brambles, I soothed myself with comforting
reflections. Once separated from my persecutors by the whole depth of
a thicket inaccessible to cavalry, it would be an easy matter to gain a
sufficient advance upon them to be able to laugh at their fruitless search.
This last illusion vanished when, on reaching the limit of the covered
space, I discovered that the cursed troop had divided into two squads,
who were both waiting for me at the outlet. At the sight of me, a fresh
storm of shouts and laughter broke forth, and the hunting-horns
sounded in all directions. I became dizzy; I felt the forest whirling
around me; I rushed into the first path that offered itself to me, and my
flight assumed the character of a hopeless rout.

The implacable legion of hunters and huntresses did not fail to start on
my heels with renewed ardor and stupid mirth. I still recognized at their
head the lady with the waving blue plume, who distinguished herself by
her peculiar animosity, and upon whom I invoked with all my heart the
most serious accidents to which equestrianism may be subject. It was
she who encouraged her odious accomplices, when I had succeeded for
a moment in eluding the pursuit; she discovered me with infernal
keen-sightedness, pointed me out with the tip of her whip, and broke
into a barbarous laugh whenever she saw me resume my race through
the bushes, blowing, panting, desperate, absurd. I ran thus during a
space of time of which I am unable to form any estimate,
accomplishing unprecedented feats of gymnastics, tearing through the
thorny brambles, sinking into the miry spots, leaping over the ditches,
bounding upon my feet with the elasticity of a panther, galloping to the
devil, without reason, without object, and without any other hope but
that of seeing the earth open beneath my feet.
At last, and surely by chance--for I had long since lost all topographical
notions--I discovered the ruins just ahead of me; with a last effort, I
cleared the open space that separates them from the forest; I ran
through the church as if I had been excommunicated, and I arrived
panting before the door of the mill. The miller and his wife were
standing on the threshold, attracted, doubtless, by the noise of the
cavalcade that was following close on my heels; they looked at me with
an expression of stupor; I tried in vain to find a few words of
explanation to cast to them as I ran by, and after incredible efforts of
intelligence, I was only able to murmur in a silly tone: "If any one asks
for me, say I am not in!" Then I cleared in three jumps the stairs
leading to my cell, and I sank upon