"Yes; you shall be my historian."
"To count the shots?"
"Just so."
Chicot dressed murmuringly, while the king remained in the antechamber.
"My horse," cried Henri; "and tell M. de Mornay that I am ready."
"What! is M. de Mornay chief huntsman?" asked Chicot.
"M. de Mornay is everything here," replied Henri. "I am so poor, than I can afford but one man."
"Yes; but he is a good one."
Chicot found the preparations much less sumptuous than those of Henri III. A dozen or fifteen gentlemen only, among whom he recognized the Vicomte de Turenne, formed the whole suite. And as they were none of them rich, they all wore, instead of the usual hunting dress, their helmets and cuirasses, which made Chicot ask if the wolves in Gascony used muskets and artillery.
"No," said Henri; "but they are fierce beasts, who have claws and teeth, and draw hunters into places where they are likely to tear their clothes on the thorns, if they wear silk and velvet, or even cloth and buff, but not if they wear cuirasses."