184 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



" This is the state of the case. I am a singer at the 

 Cathedral of Versailles. I take the high parts, and am badly 

 paid, gaming scarcely enough to buy powder arid shot. The 

 base singer is just dead, and I have petitioned for his situa- 

 tion, which is worth three times as much as my own, but the 

 bishop and the cure say that my voice is too clear." 



u I understand you; you wish to become hoarse so as to 

 disguise your tenor voice." 



" Exactly. They say mine is a tenor, and they do not 

 want a tenor. They require the voice of a bull, that makes 

 the windows shake. Never mind; if I have any luck, and 

 the frost continues, I shall finish by catching cold, and my 

 tenor will go." 



" And you with it, in all probability." 



" Ah, it is all very fine for Parisian dandies, who are as 

 much afraid of water as so many cats ; at all events, whilst 

 awaiting a hoarseness, I have discovered a famous receipt 

 for shooting wild ducks." 



" That is very true." 



"I remember, on the ouverture of the chasse, 18 , that I 

 was invited by a party of French sportsmen to accompany 

 them on a shooting expedition to the plains of Beauce, where, 

 partridges and hares were said to be abundant; and indeed 

 1 had no reason to be disappointed, but, when overtaken by 

 a storm in these vast solitudes, no house, tree, or even 

 bush is to be found for shelter, and it is even with 

 difficulty that some village steeple can be perceived in the 

 distance. 



" It was mid-day, the meridian sun darted its fervent rays 

 upon our heads, and we had not yet breakfasted, the pur- 

 suit of hares and partridges having eclipsed all other con- 

 siderations. Our rendezvous was at Pontjour, where an 

 excellent dejeune was awaiting us, when suddenly the skies 

 were overclouded, the thunder pealed, the lightning flashed, 



