4 THE GEE AT THIRST LAND.. 



That evening is one of those marked with red letters 

 in the calendar of my memory. We had both been in 

 the same countries, done the same things, and even met 

 in many instances the same people. No wonder, then, 

 that time flew on rapid wings, or that the sun surprised 

 us in our gossip. 



Next morning he departed as rapidly as he made 

 his advent, leaving me authority to make all arrange- 

 ments for the proposed expedition, which I probably 

 was more capable of undertaking, as my residence was 

 within a short distance of Birmingham, the great manu- 

 facturing centre of nearly all we should want for our 

 journey. 



A couple of months after our first interview Morris 

 and I might have been seen fagging after grouse in 

 Argyleshire, or fly-fishing some of the innumerable lakes 

 of the great Breadalbane deer-forest. 



This meeting gave me a good opportunity of 

 learning that my future comrade was a sportsman of 

 the very first water, and gifted with a great amount of 

 those qualities patience, perseverance, and endurance 

 that he who wanders in foreign lands so eminently 

 requires. 



After two or three most enjoyable weeks, we parted, 

 not to meet till a day or two previous to sailing, our 

 departure being fixed for an early date in October. 



On such an expedition as I am about to do my best 

 to describe, few persons will deny that the battery 

 deserves special notice. To do good work requires good 

 tools, and when your life may depend upon their per- 

 formance, it behoves a man to be doubly careful. Of 

 course, there are plenty of good gun-makers whose at- 

 tention to what they undertake can be thoroughly relied 



