The bright dresses and waving feathers of the
party showed to the greatest advantage, as the long cavalcade
wound through the heather and rocks of the valley below the
Apremonts; and whether I looked to front or rear--on the
huntsmen, with their great horns, or the hounds straining in the
leashes--I was equally charmed with a sight at once joyous and
gallant, and one to which the calls of duty had of late made me a
stranger.
On a sudden a quarry was started, and the company, galloping off
pell-mell, with a merry burst of music, were in a moment
dispersed, some taking this track, and others that, through the
rocks and DEBRIS that make that part of the forest difficult.
Singling out the King, I kept as near him as possible until the
chase led us into the Apremont coverts, where, the trees growing
thickly, and the rides cut through them being intricate, I lost
him for a while. Again, however, I caught sight of him flying
down a ride bordered by dark-green box-trees, against which his
white hunting coat showed vividly; but now he was alone, and
riding in a direction which each moment carried him farther from
the line of the chase, and entangled him more deeply in the
forest.
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