THE SALOON. 177 



bushes, of not very tempting water, I asked how far we 

 had travelled, and received for answer, They were not 

 sure, perhaps above eight miles, or it might be more. 

 My use of the English setter this day proved that the 

 advice of some of my friends in England, as to the nature 

 of the prairies being so severe that English, dogs would 

 be unable to face the work before them, was about as 

 much beside the mark as a good many more of their 

 " notions." 



How the sight of these prairies made me long for Eng 

 lish thorough-bred horses and foxhounds, and more so now, 

 for I found myself encamped by the side of a small covert 

 of seven or eight acres or less of beautiful lying, with no 

 other wood within twenty miles of me, and nothing to 

 stop a hound and horse but pace, and nothing to run over 

 but grass, without foil of any description ; foxes certainly, 

 and perhaps a small prairie wolf, not very much larger 

 than a fox, is to be found in this beautiful situation. Oh ! 

 how I did indeed long for my old pack of foxhounds, for 

 my favourite horse Jack o'Lantern, and for the presence 

 of my brother sportsmen of old, Lord Cardigan, Lord 

 Clanricarde, Lord Rokeby, Payton, Standon, Parker, 

 Magniac, and Harry Boulton ; and how Charles Tolle- 

 mache on his brown horse Radical would have galloped, 

 for there was not a fence to shirk, nor a choice of ground 

 to have induced in him a moment's pause. If the Ameri 

 can railway companies would only concede fair accommo 

 dation for the hounds and dogs of English sportsmen in 

 vans, and permit them, if four or five gentlemen were 

 in company, to have a " state carriage" to themselves, it 

 would be perfect. Do not look surprised, democratic 



reader, but appended to a train on my return home I 



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