SHOOTING COMMENCES. 85 



Then the sportsmen shake off their cloaks, and 

 load their guns ; the men who are to accompany 

 the party arm themselves with game and lunch- 

 eon bags, containing bread and cheese and sun- 

 dry bottles of ale and porter, besides spare am- 

 munition; the guardian procures a Turkish soldier 

 to accompany us, and in less time than I have 

 taken to describe this, ^^Heigh ! cock !" and bang, 

 bang, is heard. To describe the actual day's 

 work would be a needless repetition of what I 

 have already, in the preceding chapter, endea- 

 voured to convey an imperfect idea of. We meet, 

 however, with an unexpected, though not very 

 uncommon adventure. I have not shot many 

 birds, and am walking along in a most peace- 

 able manner, listening attentively to the merry 

 notes of my friend " Jock," a favourite spaniel, 

 when, on a sudden, I find my further pro- 

 gress impeded by a grim-looking fellow, whom 

 one might well mistake for a savage. He places 

 in my path a dirty and nearly worn-out fez, 

 or red cap, to touch which will subject one to 

 quarantine of fourteen or twenty-one days, and 

 exposes to my astonished gaze a partly-shaven 

 skull, in which scarcely an intellectual organ is 

 visible, whilst the animal ones are most strongly 



