134 A Hunting Trip 



It was not without considerable anxiety that 

 I pitched my bed thus on the bare ground, 

 from fear of bad results in view of a severe 

 cold contracted on a previous hunt, and still 

 hanging to me. For six long weeks I had 

 been coughing, until my physician had ordered 

 me southward to get rid of a bronchitis that 

 seemed proof against his skill and invocation 

 of drugs; hence my anxiety at any so heroic 

 treatment, but, as though by a miracle, the 

 cough and bronchitis left forthwith. 



While the guide was getting the horses to- 

 gether for an early start the coffee-pot was 

 boiling over, filling the pure air with the 

 aroma so pleasant to the hungry camper. 

 Breakfast over, dishes washed in cold water 

 and scoured with sand, and the pack adjusted, 

 the pleasant voice of the guide rang out in 

 the keen, brisk atmosphere, " All aboard " ; 

 then the pack horses were turned loose, and — 

 promptly started down the valley in a wrong 

 direction, to the rattle of pots and pans, keep- 

 ing a sort of jangling time with the clatter of 

 their hoofs, whilst the guide in hot pursuit 

 made the air blue with his objurgations until 



