A HUNTER'S ELYSIUM. 269 



left. Before a month had elapsed many visits had been 

 paid, and heavy game-hags, or still heavier fish-baskets, 

 -were the result Game is still abundant near the region 

 where my night adventure took place, but like every 

 locality, the hunter will have to proceed a little farther 

 beyond the bounds of civilisation ; for as certain as the 

 red man vanishes before the progress of the stream of 

 emigration, or the morning mists before the gladdening 

 rays of the rising sun, does game before the dreaded 

 sound of the squatter's axe, or the sharp report of the 

 deadly rifle. 



In Central Illinois, a thousand miles or more from the 

 -scene of my last mishap, I have had wonderful mallard- 

 shooting, so will attempt to describe one of my fortunate 

 essays on a November evening. The wind was eminently 

 suited for the purpose of exhibiting a large show of birds ; 

 it being dark, stormy, and threatening with a rapid decrease 

 in the temperature, strongly indicative of frost or snow. 

 In truth, if I had made a selection, I could scarcely have 

 chosen better-adapted weather. After a tiresome and 

 unprofitable day, we found ourselves back at the requisite 

 station, wet, weary, and fatigued, and not by any means in 

 the best of spirits ; still, I did not wish to be the proposer 

 of an adjournment of my promised exhibition, and my 

 friend felt placed upon his mettle, lest he should appear 

 to suffer more from his long tramp than myself, or indicate 

 less capacity for enduring the fatigues of the hunting-field. 

 How often, if we could read one another's internal feel- 

 ings, should we find that external appearances are only 

 assumed, and that the companion who ostensibly looks as 



