72 ON THE FEONTIEE. 



an old habitutf of the hotel, and there was not a woolly- 

 headed "boy" or "yellar gall" about the place who did 

 not bestow upon me the grin of recognition. On the 

 occasion I am writing about, the hotel hall presented, as 

 I entered, a most unusual appearance. One corner was 

 filled with a pile of gun and rifle cases, saddles sewn up 

 in canvas covers, boxes and packages of every shape and 

 size, all unmistakably English, and suggesting strongly a 

 " hunting " party. I stepped up to the desk, bid good-day 

 to the hotel clerk, and asked him what was up. "Tell you 

 what's up ? there is a parcel of English a-ristocrats arrived, 

 who are going to kill all the game in the country. They 

 have brought their dogs, their weapons, and their mounte- 

 banks with them, and they have got a kit of everything in 

 the universal world that is of no earthly use in this country. 

 They are in No. 8, and there is nothing good enough for 

 them in this ' blarsted ' hotel ! " 



I turned to the hotel register, and read their names and 

 titles ; while doing so the " mountebanks " came in four 

 English men-servants in livery two grooms, a gamekeeper, 

 and a body-servant ; clean, smart-looking, well-appointed, 

 good-style retainers. 



My heart warmed towards the occupants of No. 8 ; they 

 were my fellow-countrymen, and they were sportsmen. 

 They had come thousands of miles in pursuit of the plea- 

 sure I loved best. Had I not been tied for time I should 

 have proposed to join them ; as it was, I would manage to 

 spare them a few days to get them properly started. 

 Acting on the impulse of the moment, I gave my card to 

 the hotel clerk, and asked him to send it in to the gentle- 



