of Parliament at Dôle, to hunt down the were-wolves which infested the
country. The authorization was as follows:-- "According to the
advertisement made to the sovereign Court of Parliament at Dole, that,
in the territories of Espagny, Salvange, Courchapon, and the
neighbouring villages, has often been seen and met, for some time
past, a were-wolf, who, it is said, has already seized and carried off
several little children, so that they have not been seen since, and
since he has attacked and done injury in the country to some horsemen,
who kept him of only with great difficulty and danger to their
persons: the said Court, desiring to prevent any greater danger, has
permitted, and does permit, those who are abiding or dwelling in the
said places and others, notwithstanding all edicts concerning the
chase, to assemble with pikes, halberts, arquebuses, and sticks, to
chase and to pursue the said were-wolf in every place where they may
find or seize him; to tie and to kill, without incurring any pains or
penalties. . . . Given at the meeting of the said Court, on the
thirteenth day of the month September, 1573." It was some time,
however, before the loup-garou was caught.

In a retired spot near Amanges, half shrouded in trees, stood a small
hovel of the rudest construction; its roof was of turf, and its walls
were blotched with lichen. The garden to this cot was run to waste,
and the fence round it broken through. As the hovel was far from any
road, and was only reached by a path over moorland and through forest,
it was seldom visited, and the couple who lived in it were not such as
would make many friends. The man, Gilles Garnier, was a sombre,
ill-looking fellow, who walked in a stooping attitude, and whose pale
face, livid complexion, and deep-set eyes under a pair of coarse and
bushy brows, which met across the forehead, were sufficient to repel
any one from seeking his acquaintance. Gilles seldom spoke, and when