224 ACCESSIBLE FIELD SPORTS. 



life makes you wonderfully wide awake, and although 

 an appparent bonhommie may lay on the surface, a con- 

 stant guarded caution should never be neglected. My 

 friends, however, were really good fellows, a little 

 eccentric, for each was in the habit of picking his teeth 

 with his bowie knife ; but they were honest, plucky, 

 and enduring, ready to face whatever emergency oc- 

 curred, and pretty certain to get out of it if a bold 

 hand and quick eye could be of assistance. Break- 

 fast ! what a misnomer for a few mouthfuls of half- 

 charred, half- cooked, pieces of tough venison ! what a 

 contrast with one of our home hunting-feeds that bear 

 the same sobriquet ; still I doubt much whether pates de 

 fois gras, game pies, and spiced round of beef, were ever 

 relished with more gusto than that meal. 



After the viands had disappeared, over the consoling, 

 soothing pipe, our course for the day was discussed, 

 and, as the rain had ceased and clouds lifted, giving 

 every prospect of fine weather, it was decided that we 

 should remain another night where we were, and in 

 the meantime each start in different directions to seek 

 for a supply of game, that we might not go supperless 

 to rest and resume our journey on the morrow with 

 empty stomachs. I had a horse ; from his wonderful 

 formation and intense ugliness I dubbed him " Broom- 

 stick ; " he was truly a doleful beast to look at ; no 



