270 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



fresh and capable of travelling for hours, as he was at the- 

 time of starting, is suffering from extreme lassitude and 

 disinclination to more exertion, only he is restrained from 

 confessing his weakness by a certain amour propre, and 

 repugnance to acknowledge himself beaten ; at least, I 

 speak from my own experience, and I believe that the 

 majority of men are similarly constituted. If men would 

 but give the same attention, the same pertinacious assiduity 

 to business affairs that are bestowed by its devotees on 

 field sports, it cannot be doubted that their fortune in 

 amassing wealth would be equal to their success in filling 

 game-bags. 



As the sun dipped in the western horizon, or as near as 

 possible to that time murky, dark, threatening clouds 

 preventing the sun from being seen we entered the wet, 

 marshy margin which bounded our future scene of opera- 

 tions. With much difficulty, and the energetic use of all 

 the vis left in us, we progressed slowly and steadily, till we 

 reached the edge of the water, where, ensconcing ourselves 

 in the centre of some of the scattered water-loving brush 

 which vegetated in the vicinity, we awaited the result. 



Permit me, kind reader, to deviate from my narrative, 

 and give a hint to all who love the gun, that they may find 

 useful in their future essays against all descriptions of 

 game. I have heard sportsmen, and those gentlemen of 

 experience, condemn Colonel Hawker for impressing upon 

 his pupils the necessity of particular attention to their 

 costume ; many thinking he devoted too much time and 

 pains to what appeared to them a very unnecessary deside- 

 ratum. If any one who peruses these lines should be of 



