THE " PAINTER " IN THE PIG PEN. 327 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE "PAINTER" IN THE PIG PEN. 



u I was with Hercules and Cadmus, once, 

 When in a wood of Crete, they bay'd the bear 

 With hounds of Sparta ; never did I hear 



Such gallant chiding." 



MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 



THE days were getting rapidly warmer in the interior, 

 cut off as we were a large portion of the time by the 

 close woods from the free winds. The ducks had gone 

 to the northward long since, and with them the snipe and 

 many song birds. To take their place, the flowers were 

 opening to the spring on every side. 



Hunters are rarely botanists. None of their wants are 

 aided by its knowledge, with the exception of the know- 

 ledge of the points of the compass, told by the moss, or an 

 acquaintance with the texture of different woods, or the 

 medicinal properties of a few plants. They are equally 

 unused to the description of flowering plants. The 

 pointed cutting of a deer's hoof on a cactus leaf to them 

 is a greater study than the most radiant flower that ever 

 fringed its pulpous leaf. They cannot give technical 

 descriptions, and but few natural ones. They may not 

 call the stars by their names, or classify the active life 



