BIG GAME 71 



various animals whose blood he is seeking, who 

 has discovered the exact hours at which they 

 sleep and feed, the particular form of diet they 

 prefer, the peculiar fastnesses they inhabit, and 

 the best methods of compassing their premature 

 demise. Such a man is, indeed, rarely to be 

 met with, but when encountered he should be 

 grappled to our bosom with hooks of steel. 



2. 



Among the living authorities on Big-Game 

 Hunting, my uncle. Sir Noel Biffin, has long 

 stood pre-eminent. For the past decade he has 

 been annually elected President of the Battersea 

 Bison Club, and the fact of his recent unanimous 

 reappointment to the Hereditary Grand ]\Iaster- 

 ship of the Ancient Order of Buffaloes testifies 

 as eloquently to his reputation as a sportsman 

 as to his personal popularity with the British 

 proletariat. Four continents have resounded 

 to the crack of his rifle; his name is a byword 

 wherever men are met together to slay dumb 

 animals. In the wilds of Spain the Andalusian 

 peasant still speaks of him with bated breath; 

 on the banks of the Chope River the South 

 African slave-trader silently drinks his health 

 in a mixture of cocoa-nut juice and bhang; 

 Canadian trappers have composed a song about 

 him which they sing to their dogs round the 



