The Truce of God | Page 7

and
seemed to mock him as he passed. On he went, as if danger were
behind and safety before him; as if he galloped to save his own life, not
to risk it in taking a boar's. An angry bark and a fearful howl rang in the
distance, and the hunter's bugle sounded a merry blast. On he went,
faster than before, and now as if he sought his mortal foe. The boar was
at bay; monarch of the wood, he had turned to defend his realm, and his
white tusks were soon red with the blood of the noble hounds who
fearlessly disputed his right. The youth leaped from his horse with the
speed of thought. Bred to the chase, the well-trained animal stood firm
while his master cautiously, but with the calmness of the victor of a
hundred frays, advanced against the bristling monster. Quitting the
dogs for this new assailant, the boar came madly on; the huntsman sank
upon one knee, and so true was his eye, and so firm his hand, that the
heart of the savage was cloven by the spear. The youth rose to his feet,
dizzy from the shock, and, springing nimbly upon the grim body of his
prostrate victim, his fine form swelling with the rapture of his recent
triumph, brought his horn to his lips, and again its notes went ringing
merrily through the woods.
Echoes, like fading memories, growing fainter and fainter as they
receded, gave the only response.
"Where can they be?" said the youth, "their steeds were fleet. Out of
sight and out of hearing! How completely I have beaten them."
He laughed triumphantly as he said this, and, sitting down upon the
long grass, began to caress an enormous hound that panted at his feet,
as unconcernedly as though the forest now contained nothing more
formidable than doves or lambs. His horse, thoroughly domesticated,
strayed a little from the dead boar, feeding as it went.
The youth took off his plumed bonnet, and, flinging back his long black
hair, fell into one of those light, smiling day-dreams which belong only

to the young and innocent. He built fifteen air-castles in as many
minutes. But at last he grew impatient; he sounded blast after blast; still
no answer came. The trees kept up their sleepy sigh, and the sapless
branches creaked, but no human voice, no human foot save his own,
broke the silence.
"Thou hast given me a goodly chase," exclaimed the youth, springing
up and addressing the boar, "and I shall wear this in remembrance of
thee."
He drew his hunting-knife, and soon uprooted one of the monster's
tusks. Depositing the precious relic in a hunting pouch he wore at his
side, he mounted his horse, rather puzzled where to go.
"It is easier to get in this oaken field than to get out of it," said our
hunter, "but if the forest have an end, I'll find it. Now, my dear loitering
friends, we hunt each other."
Giving his horse the spur, and allowing the creature to choose its
course, he called on the lagging hounds, and dashed away as rapidly as
he had come. The wood was light as ever, and here and there sunbeam
lay, like a golden spear, along the ground yet the rich lustre of the sky,
wherever it was visible the hum of numberless insects, the fresh flight
of the awakened bird, and the freer and cooler breeze, warned the youth
that sunset was near. On went the noble steed, with steady step and
trembling nostril while his finely veined ears spoke so rapidly that the
rider could scarcely understand their language. They passed through
long lines of trees that opened into other lines, from one limited
horizon to another, yet all was green before and behind, to the right and
to the left, one interminable emerald. The light turned from a rich gold
to a golden red, and yet it played only on whispering leaves and on the
long grass at their feet. Still the youth felt no fear, but hummed some
old ballad, or drew a lively peal from his horn. He dismounted to
refresh himself at a spring that had nestled among some rocks, and was
murmuring there like a spoiled child. Having cared for the gallant
animal which had borne him so well, he stretched himself a moment
upon the green bank.

"Ha! what is that!" he exclaimed, bending forward to listen; "a
horseman? Let him come; friend or foe, I shall be glad to see him."
He was on his horse in a moment. As he turned to look behind, he saw
a gentleman, richly dressed, and admirably mounted, coming at full
speed from another quarter of the wood. The stranger was quite young,
perhaps a year