A GOOD DAY'S SHOOTING. 357 



ing inclination which I had perceived in her to severely 

 bite her game. She was not one of my best sort, so the 

 parting would have affected me but little. My mules and 

 horses, though standing at " six bits" a head, did not 

 improve in their condition, and I strongly suspected a 

 design to weary me into a hurried sale, a thing which T 

 tacitly determined not to submit to, but, on the contrary, 

 to give the dollar-seeking men by whom I was surrounded 

 a considerable disappointment. 



On Tuesday, the 31st of October, myself and two 

 friends, Messrs Shields and Baxter, fixed to shoot on the 

 ground immediately adjacent to St Joseph, but on the 

 opposite side the river, and for this purpose we took with 

 us Brutus and Chance. Two better or more agreeable 

 companions than these gentlemen were could not be, when, 

 as there were plenty of partridges or quails, I enjoyed the 

 day very much, though Mr Shields still suffered from 

 fever and ague. The covert (these birds when disturbed 

 always fly to covert) was very severe, dry, and dusty, and 

 the sun intensely hot, but between twelve and half-past 

 four we bagged seventeen brace of partridges and three 

 prairie grouse. We also killed, as we crossed the river 

 at starting, a duck, which resembled the tufted duck in 

 England, but was not quite the same bird. Both Chance 

 and Brutus were the admiration of my friends. During 

 the day's sport, though these gentlemen shot very well, 

 they acknowledged the superior shooting of my favourite 

 John Manton gun, and again I had to remark that the 

 American sportsman never attempted a long shot, and 

 since I have tried the powder manufactured in the United 

 States I do not wonder at it, for it has not, taking the 

 average of it, half the strength of the English powder. 



On the following day, the 1st of November, with con- 



