The central figure is a French poacher named Blucher, one of the powerful physical type that was illumined by one great passion during the French Revolution. The play opens with a view of Blucher him disguised in the clothes of th...

The Man Hunt

The central figure is a French poacher named Blucher, one of the powerful physical type that was illumined by one great passion during the French Revolution. The play opens with a view of Blucher him disguised in the clothes of the old fagot-picker, trudging painfully through the forest and picking up game from his traps. Under the feudal system he would have run less risk than now. Under the promulgation of forest laws many privileges of the poor were taken away that constitute a hardship. The poor creatures who count upon the gathering of fagots and dead leaves to keep themselves warm in winter are now liable under the law, though the administration closes its eyes to minor offenses. The poacher is regarded as the most dangerous of all those who live on the border of great forests. His familiarity with the haunts of game and his remarkable snares of wire or horse-hair serve to make it nearly impossible to catch him, but Blucher is one of the bolder type. He carries a gun and loves the sport. He is suspected, but positive evidence is so difficult to obtain that he pursues his vocation unhindered and laughs at those who try to arrest him. On this occasion one of his traps is found, and he is so closely followed by the police that he makes a perilous escape over a wall near the spot where he knows that Clara and her mother are picking up and binding twigs. He scales the wall, throws off his disguise, hides it in the barrow-load of branches and makes off before the officers arrive. When they appear upon the scene, the women misdirect them. Blucher's straight road to trouble lies in his sudden fancy for Rose, the farmer's daughter. She is bespoken by a young tiller of the soil named Jack, of honest intentions and suspicious temperament. He dislikes Blucher from instinct and so does the papa of Rose. These four come together at the great gate of a veritable French farmyard, a sort of enclosure of all the important buildings that made it of utility as a temporary fortification in war time. As papa's preference is obviously not for the bold poacher, the interest of the girl is thereby aroused. The next gathering of all the elements is at a country ball given at the Inn of the Red Lion. The "ball" is given out of doors; the dancing is on the green sward. Blucher roughs it with the young farmer and steals Rose from Jack in most approved Bowery style. He carries her away from arbor of the inn, after baiting the very officers who are trying to catch him poaching, and joins the dancers for a while. Clara and her mother appear among the dancers to sell a few flowers they have gathered in the forest, and Blucher makes a diversion by inducing Clara to perform a fancy dance for the assemblage; this dance is admirably done. He then steals away with Rose to the inn arbor and makes an ardent profession of love. He is caught at this by her father and approved suitor and by the unhappy Clara. A general clash of antagonistic elements ensues with disaster to no one but the unfortunate daughter of the fagot-gatherer. The one who loves most truly is the biggest sufferer. Blucher's methods become bolder and bolder. As a lover he invades the farmhouse and induces Rose to meet him outside in secret. As a poacher he shoots game like a true sportsman. A larger force is sent on his trail, some four officers, and he is caught with the goods in the forest. A remarkable struggle with the police follows in which one after the other is overcome by Blucher after he has been disarmed. He escapes, but he leaves one of his would-be captors badly injured, and his character is unveiled to the farmer's daughter. Rose decides to accept the suitor favored by her father in a scene that is as amazingly comical as it is true to life. The father stands by while the lover is declaring himself and spurs on the young man's ardor. Now a reward is offered for the apprehension of the poacher. He has injured an officer, and he is surrounded by a small army of important-looking gendarmes on horse and afoot. Again he escapes, but he encounters Rose and Jack in their new relation of engaged lovers and he can not resist a temptation to lick the successful suitor. He will have that satisfaction anyway. He gives the farmer boy a mild beating, and the latter retaliates by playing spy. He stealthily follows the poacher until he discovers his hiding place in the hovel of Clara's mother. He leads the small military force to this hiding place, but they are outwitted when Blucher escapes in the old woman's clothes. Pursuit now becomes so hot that capture is inevitable, but the poacher dares again to enter the farm house. Clara guesses his destination and flies to warn him that the police are hot upon his trail, but she is too late. There is a swift and dramatic scene between the two women in the farmhouse kitchen, then the entire place is surrounded. In the melee that follows a shot is fired at Blucher which Clara receives in her bosom while interposing to save him.

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The Man Hunt

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