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+====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ======
+===== CHAPTER IV =====
+//Reflections on Saint Hubert's stag--Shoots a stag with cherry-
+  stones; the wonderful effects of it--Kills a bear by extraordinary
+  dexterity; his danger pathetically described--Attacked by a wolf,
+  which he turns inside out--Is assailed by a mad dog, from which he
+  escapes--The Baron's cloak seized with madness, by which his whole
+  wardrobe is thrown into confusion.//
+You have heard, I dare say, of the hunter and sportsman's saint and
+protector, St. Hubert, and of the noble stag, which appeared to him in
+the forest, with the holy cross between his antlers. I have paid my
+homage to that saint every year in good fellowship, and seen this stag
+a thousand times, either painted in churches, or embroidered in the
+stars of his knights; so that, upon the honour and conscience of a
+good sportsman, I hardly know whether there may not have been
+formerly, or whether there are not such crossed stags even at this
+present day. But let me rather tell what I have seen myself. Having
+one day spent all my shot, I found myself unexpectedly in presence of
+a stately stag, looking at me as unconcernedly as if he had known of
+my empty pouches. I charged immediately with powder, and upon it a
+good handful of cherry-stones, for I had sucked the fruit as far as
+the hurry would permit. Thus I let fly at him, and hit him just on the
+middle of the forehead, between his antlers; it stunned him--he
+staggered--yet he made off. A year or two after, being with a party in
+the same forest, I beheld a noble stag with a fine full grown cherry-
+tree above ten feet high between his antlers. I immediately
+recollected my former adventure, looked upon him as my property, and
+brought him to the ground by one shot, which at once gave me the
+haunch and cherry-sauce; for the tree was covered with the richest
+fruit, the like I had never tasted before. Who knows but some
+passionate holy sportsman, or sporting abbot or bishop, may have shot,
+planted, and fixed the cross between the antlers of St. Hubert's stag,
+in a manner similar to this? They always have been, and still are,
+famous for plantations of crosses and antlers; and in a case of
+distress or dilemma, which too often happens to keen sportsmen, one is
+apt to grasp at anything for safety, and to try any expedient rather
+than miss the favourable opportunity. I have many times found myself
+in that trying situation.
+What do you say of this, for example? Daylight and powder were spent
+one day in a Polish forest. When I was going home a terrible bear made
+up to me in great speed, with open mouth, ready to fall upon me; all
+my pockets were searched in an instant for powder and ball, but in
+vain; I found nothing but two spare flints: one I flung with all my
+might into the monster's open jaws, down his throat. It gave him pain
+and made him turn about, so that I could level the second at his back-
+door, which, indeed, I did with wonderful success; for it flew in, met
+the first flint in the stomach, struck fire, and blew up the bear with
+a terrible explosion. Though I came safe off that time, yet I should
+not wish to try it again, or venture against bears with no other
+ammunition.
+There is a kind of fatality in it. The fiercest and most dangerous
+animals generally came upon me when defenceless, as if they had a
+notion or an instinctive intimation of it. Thus a frightful wolf
+rushed upon me so suddenly, and so close, that I could do nothing but
+follow mechanical instinct, and thrust my fist into his open mouth.
+For safety's sake I pushed on and on, till my arm was fairly in up to
+the shoulder. How should I disengage myself? I was not much pleased
+with my awkward situation--with a wolf face to face; our ogling was
+not of the most pleasant kind. If I withdrew my arm, then the animal
+would fly the more furiously upon me; that I saw in his flaming eyes.
+In short, I laid hold of his tail, turned him inside out like a glove,
+and flung him to the ground, where I left him.
+The same expedient would not have answered against a mad dog, which
+soon after came running against me in a narrow street at St.
+Petersburg. Run who can, I thought; and to do this the better, I threw
+off my fur cloak, and was safe within doors in an instant. I sent my
+servant for the cloak, and he put it in the wardrobe with my other
+clothes. The day after I was amazed and frightened by Jack's bawling,
+"For God's sake, sir, your fur cloak is mad!" I hastened up to him,
+and found almost all my clothes tossed about and torn to pieces. The
+fellow was perfectly right in his apprehensions about the fur cloak's
+madness. I saw him myself just then falling upon a fine full-dress
+suit, which he shook and tossed in an unmerciful manner.
+----
+Go to [[CHAPTER V]]