102 THE COMPLETE SPOHTSMAN 



for several hours in vain, was forced to return 

 A\dth his mission unaccomplished. 



"It's no use," he remarked with a sigh of 

 disappointment. " A stranger hasn't a chance 

 in these parts ! Every snake in the district is 

 already booked up three weeks ahead !" 



9. 



No hunter of wild animals can consider his 

 education complete until he has mastered those 

 technical terms which are in use when speaking 

 of different varieties of Big Game. My Uncle 

 Noel, ever somewhat of a literary purist, once 

 rebuked me most severely for remarking that 

 I had seen several " hippopotamuses." 



" Hippopotam^, you mean, I suppose ?" he 

 said in that frigid tone which he usually re- 

 served for the Vicar of the parish when the 

 latter came to ask for a subscription to the 

 Church Organ Fund. 



"Yes," I replied meekly; "yes, what I 

 meant to say was that I had observed a small 

 herd of hippopotamz." 



" Tut, tut !" exclaimed my uncle angrily, 

 " has the boy received no classical education at 

 all ? A herd of hippopotamor^^m, Reginald, if 

 you please !" 



I will not dwell further upon a painful inci- 



