A Singular Duel.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 4249, 25 November 1886, Page 3

A Singular Duel.

Qne day, M. 4- Q brey de Mont Didier, • gentleman of birth and influence, was journeying alone through the lonely Forest of Bondy, when he was attacked by robbers and killed, bis body being buried by the assassins under a tree bard by the spot where be fell. For pome days an English bloodhound whom be had with him kept watch over the ■ spot, till compelled by hunger to quit the post. On this the dog made bis way to the bouse of a friend of the deceased gentleman at Paris, where the strangeness of his manner, coupled with the fact of bis having come back with* out his master, roused much curiosity and wonder. As soon as he bud been fed he kept running towards the door of the bouse and then back to his master's friend, pulling him by the sleeve, and used all sorts of dumb eloquence as if be wanted him to follow. At last the friend resolved to follow the leading of the dog, who made his way tp the forest, and wept Straight to l|ie foot of the tree where his murdered master lay. Here the dog began to bow) piteously, scratching up the earth with his paws and .showing bis wish that the place should be dug out. Upon digging a few feet, the friend and bis companions came . ppon the body of M. de Mont Didier, bearing the wounds which bad been in* dieted upon it by the knife of the mnt* deter. For some time, however, no trace of the actual assassin could be found, till one day the dog met in the streets of Paris a pertain chevalier Darned Maoaire, whom he instantly fried to sqfce by the throat with great fury. This strange conduct on the paft of a oniet anj peaceful animal tyas repeated on a sepbnd occasion, sp3, as ft was known tbnt Macaire had been a personal enemy of Mont Didier, grave suspicion! began to be

aroused. At length the affair reached the oars of th * king, who, being anxious that the inathr kliunld be thoroughly sifted, sent for Ma'mire and also for the dog, who wjs gentle and playful until he scented Maeairo in the crowd of courtiers standing around the king, when, as usual, be showed the fiercest hostility toward him. Struck by such an undesigned piece of circumstantial evidence, the king at once ordered that the decision should be referred to the

trial by battle, or “ appeal to the judgment of God,” and a combat was ordered to be held between the chevalier and (he dog in the He de Notre Dame, which was then almost an open space. The terms of the enconnter were that the dog was to have an empty cask to retreat into after he had made three springs at bia foe while (be man was allowed a cudgel by way of arms. Everything was prepared for the duel, when the dog no sooner found himself face to faoh with bia antagonist than he began Fanning round and round Muoaire, avoiding his blows, until at last he seized him

fairly by the throat, and after a severe struggle succeeded in laying him prostrate on the ground. The chevalier was rescued from the dog’s grip by tho bystanders, and, conscience-stricken, in the presence of the Kiog, bia Court, and the rest of the spectators, he acknowledged his guilt. A few days afterwards he expiated bis crime upon the scaffold. The “ Dog of Montargis ” is a wellknown tale in France, where its substantial truth is not doubted, and it has been the subject of at all events one popular drama.