EXPECTATION. 31 



it is bad enough. Smoking seems to afford a 

 temporary relief, and to repel the enemy for a 

 time, but no sooner is the pipe empty, or the 

 cigar finished, than these Lilliputian tormentors 

 recommence their attacks, and give even the un- 

 travelled sportsman a fair idea of the powers of 

 the musquito in India, or of the swarms of gnats 

 in Norway and Lapland. 



I had just finished my fourth pipe, when the 

 distant sounds of dogs and men fell on my ears. 

 The chasse was evidently approaching. A shot 

 soon followed from the same quarter, the yells and 

 shouts became louder, and the cry of the hounds 

 more distinct. Pre-eminent above all was the 

 deep baying of the bloodhound, who was appa- 

 rently following a line of his own, and gradually, 

 but perceptibly, iiearing my position. Now it 

 ceased altogether, then suddenly recommenced 

 within a hundred yards of me. It was an excit- 

 ing moment as I knelt down in the nest, and, with 

 my finger on the trigger, fixed my eyes on the 

 spot where the deer-path crossed the narrow vista 

 in front of me. Presently the loud and con- 

 tinuous notes of the bloodhound told that he was 

 close on his quarry, and I felt sure that he was 

 driving it towards me ; then followed a rush and 

 a crackling of the rotten sticks, close by, but 



