CHAPTEE VIII. 



ON THE GRAND PRAIRIE, 



THE events which I am about to narrate were not 

 written on the ground, for the simple reasons that it 

 was often difficult to obtain a comfortable, quiet corner, 

 where a man could collect his thoughts, and, perhaps 

 better still, that generally I was so fatigued, after a 

 hard day's work, I was disinclined to deprive myself 

 of the pleasure of discussing with my companions the 

 adventures and results, mishaps, bad and good shots, or 

 anything else, which so happily, and not the least 

 agreeably, form a portion of a sporting tour. On this 

 occasion we had the fortune to discover a venerable 

 countryman, who relied on his gun for a living, and as 

 his business did not appear a paying one, our party 

 agreed to take him into our service, giving him dis- 

 tinctly to understand that one of his duties would be 

 gun washing. Well, he proved quite up to the mark, 

 and took that disagreeable business off our hands most 



