34 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



It is closely allied with that other vice, — bragging. 

 Such a guide in a large party is apt to breed 

 dispute and difference. He is very liable to give 

 the gentleman who employs him the impression 

 that others in the party are striving to " get ahead 

 of him." Moreover, he is always interrupting you 

 when you do not want to be interrupted. Silence, 

 which is a luxury found only in the wilderness, 

 flees a*' his approach. Beware of the talkative 

 guide. 



The next in order, and the last I shall men- 

 tion, is the "lazy guide." Such a guide is the 

 most vexatious creature you can have around. 

 Nothing short of actual experience with one can 

 give you an adequate impression. Now, a guide's 

 duties, while not absolutely laborious, are neverthe- 

 less multiform. To discharge them well, a man 

 should have a brisk, cheerful temperament and a 

 certain pride in his calling. He should be quick, 

 inventive, and energetic. With these qualities 

 even ordinarily developed, a man makes a good 

 guide ; without them he is intolerable. A lazy 

 guide is usually in appearance fleshy, lymphatic, 

 dirty, and often well advanced in years. As a 

 rule, avoid an old guide as you would an old horse. 

 His few years' extra experience, compared to a 

 younger man, cannot make good the decline of his 

 powers and the loss of his ambition. A young, 

 acti^'e fellow of thirty, with his reputation to make, 



