MOUNTAIN APPETITES. 49 



is prepared, and has a most inviting appearance. Your 

 men descried you on the last hill-top with their glasses, 

 and all is ready. I never was more happy to see any one 

 in my life ; for besides other considerations, c the air 

 bites shrewdly ; ' and I am hungry past endurance. What 

 a rascally hill that is at the head of the pass ! my pony 

 slid down it on his hocks, carrying forward with him a 

 rattling mass of stones and rubbish, that now forms a talus, 

 which, under ordinary circumstances, ought to have been 

 the work of ages. 



What was despatched at breakfast we may not say ; it 

 becomes us not when in our own cabin to record how 

 often empty plates were exchanged for full ones, or to 

 say whether the pasty was still a venison pasty, or only a 

 simple unpretending dish of earthenware ; let those who 

 have felt the mountain breeze, and all the freshness and 

 salubrity it imparts, form their own conclusions ; and we 

 really can assure them that, all things considered, we are 

 not voracious, that is, not particularly so, on the con- 

 trary, we always feel inclined to inculcate the doctrine of 

 abstinence ; but then we cannot very decently do this to 

 our own guests, so you must excuse us for the present. 



" Now, Harry, are you ready ? " 



"In one moment, just let me take another egg; and 

 with your permission I will put this broiled grouse in my 

 pocket, and a roll or two, and so forth. Now then for 

 this wonderful work." 



" Do you still hold your intention of taking no rifle ? " 



" For to-day, yes, most decidedly ; I will keep cool, and 

 see the nature of the thing first. That is my firm resolve." 



" Well, I shall have three rifles with me, and you can 



E 



