188 DELICACY MISPLACED. 



caring for any more of the liquid pork. This meal was a great 

 improvement on our dinner, and I think we must have eaten 

 a dozen snipe apiece, after which we had a long discussion on 

 the war, and on the part our host had played in it, where he 

 seemed to have done wonders for an ungrateful country, and 

 then we turned in sleeping in our own blankets on the floor. 



The next day was a repetition of the preceding one, the snipe 

 being equally plentiful and equally tame, and our bag was a 

 very large one. We had another meal of snipe and then 

 saddled our horses to return to camp, telling Billy to remain 

 behind, and see if he could, in a delicate way, and without 

 hurting his feelings, induce our host to take something for the 

 corn our horses had eaten. We said good-bye and rode off, but 

 had not gone far when we heard Billy calling after us, and 

 saw him coming as fast as he could shuffle (for his wounds, 

 received during the war, prevented his running) , and on coming 

 up, we found that when he offered to pay for the corn our 

 host presented a long bill of which I forget the amount, but 

 I know that ten dollars (2) which we had given Billy was 

 not nearly enough to settle it, so that our delicacy had been 

 wasted. 



We were very much annoyed by the semi-wild hogs, 

 which then ranged about the country in immense numbers, 

 as they would come into camp and eat up the corn meant 

 for our horses, driving them away for it. To be even with 

 them we shot a fat one now and then and put him through 

 the sausage-machine. Of course all these hogs belonged to 

 some one, but they were so numerous and worth so little, 

 that all travellers acted as we did ; indeed, most men passing 

 through the country seemed to think nothing of killing a 



