ALL RIGHT AT LAST. 79 



dwindled into a wretched auberge, where one poor room, 

 for bed-room and dining-room for two, was all that could 

 be got, and where it was plain that dinner, &c. were 

 fabulous — mere dreams. But happily the mind soon falls 

 from its airy heights to the level of the actual, and there- 

 fore we set about trying to make the best arrangement 

 we could under the circumstances. In this your French- 

 men excels, to give the devil his due ; for he has a cat-like 

 propensity to find his feet from whatever place he be 

 thrown. So my friend, after sacreing heavily for a minute 

 or two to comfort himself, began to sing and whistle ; 

 whisking here, and chucking the landlady's daughter there, 

 saying " Monsieur" to a brat of a son, and " Madame," 

 with reverence, to the old frump of a hostess, in a way 

 which really oiled the wheels and made me regard him 

 with something akin to envy and admiration. Under this 

 soothing and warming influence things began to mend ; and 

 the process, if it did no great good to the physique, benefited 

 the morale, and improved our own tempers at least. 



We then asked for a guide who could show us the 

 country, and after much debate a man was recommended 

 by the people of the inn as the very one for us, and he 

 was accordingly sent for. When he arrived we asked him 

 if he knew the country well, and as he replied readily to 

 all questions and was an active looking fellow, we engaged 

 him at once, and in half an hour were a-field. And cer- 

 tainly it was as splendid a country for game to exist in as I 

 ever saw, and I felt for once we were all right. True that the 

 guide made me feel some misgivings when he recommended 

 us to beat stubbles, it beinir two o'clock and a hot sun, and 



