252 WILD sroETS in the south. 



" Poke, you attend to the birds, will you ?" I said, 

 handing over a bunch of snipe that Rose had just picked 

 as clean as apples, and that were all nicely drawn, and 

 had their bills stuck in their breasts as tliough trying to 

 plume their lost feathers. 



"]^o*s«>," replied the Doctor, emphatically; " ««y 

 body can cook snipe, I am going to attend to the side 

 dishes — les entremets^ vol-au-vents^ and the ^:>c^^e5." 



" Nonsense ! there are no side dishes, and plenty of 

 substantial food that can be roasted," interposed Jack- 

 son. 



" Yes, yes. Doctor, give us an entremet. 



* Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd, 

 With jellies soother than the creamy curd. 

 And lucid syrups tinct with cinnamon.' " 



" Wait awhile," said the Doctor ; " I mil show you a 

 dish that will make you forget poetry." 



As he selected a couple of flat stones, and commenced 

 pounding up some biscuit that were so hard they had 

 been declined by all the party since the conmiencement 

 of the hunt. 



" You, Sam, bring me a fork," said Jackson, as he 

 approached the fire with a square of the loin of bear's 

 meat, nicely cut for roasting. The fork was produced, 

 which was a stout branch of green wood, and carefully 

 pushed into the sand at such an inclination that the meat 

 would be between the fire and the wood ; the roasting 

 piece was carefully impaled thereon, and in a Httle while 



