88 ACCESSIBLE FIELD SPORTS. 



Hank selected a well-suited place for our meal, and 

 with otium cum dignitate "we passed the meridian hours 

 of the day, happy and contented, at peace with all men, 

 and conscious of the pleasure of successfully following 

 an innocent pursuit. 



We remained under the hedge till after two o'clock, 

 eating, chatting, and smoking, the irrepressible Hank 

 relating, in the most facetious manner, several most 

 amusing anecdotes of his previous career. One story 

 in particular caused me to laugh more than ever I re- 

 member to have done, saving the night that a Dutch- 

 man told me a yarn of his first experience of a wasps' 

 nest ; but as the western sun commenced to elongate 

 its shadows, and the afternoon breeze began to cool 

 the atmosphere, a start was agreed upon, and with 

 one accord each rose and shouldered his gun, intent on 

 doing good shooting and further swelling the capacity 

 of our already distended game-bags. The fresh brace 

 of dogs were uncoupled, and, amid the discordant notes 

 and piteous whining of our discarded morning favour- 

 ites, we started for the beat. 



The ground we were about to hunt exactly resembled 

 in appearance and vegetation what we had traversed 

 in the morning, and our anticipations of sport, from 

 former experience, were up to the boiling-point. How- 

 ever, we must have walked quite an hour before either 



