106 STALKS ABROAD 



pleasant or desirable. By the way, when walking 

 along a steep hillside, carry your rifle in the out- 

 side hand, as in the event of a fall it is less likely 

 to get damaged. 



I heard a good story of one man, apropos of the 

 walking. Beautifully curled and oiled, like unto an 

 Assyrian bull, in an immaculate new " suiting " and 

 drab spats, on the morning after their arrival in camp 

 he prepared to sally forth, accompanied by his guide. 

 The Otago hills are no child's play, most of the 

 peaks running from five to seven thousand feet in 

 height. The guide prepared to mount one of these. 



" You're never going up there ! " exclaimed the 

 horrified stalker. 



The guide, in a cutting tone, inquired if he pre- 

 ferred stalking along the river-bed. 



" Oh ! very well," said his gentleman, in the tone 

 of an early Christian martyr. 



For an hour, puffing and panting, he struggled 

 up the hill, towing himself from tuft to tuft of snow- 

 grass and at intervals receiving assistance from the 

 guide. At last they came to a big slide of rock. 

 The guide was half-way up it when he looked back. 

 On its edge stood the stalker, "shivering on the 

 brink " and in obvious fear of launching away. His 

 clothes were torn and dirty ; his beautifully curled 

 locks were falling over his empurpled visage, and 

 he was streaming with perspiration. Altogether he 

 presented a very different appearance to the spick- 

 and-span gentleman who had started to make the 



