MILITARY AD VENTURES. 239 



taking a glass of our wine ; I imagine he 

 found the liquor to his taste for he did not 

 require any pressing after the first glass, 

 but rolled it down his throat like a seasoned 

 old gentleman who had been in the habit 

 of drinking his two bottles a night for the 

 last fifty years. Of course we chatted 

 about the bear adventure, and he was 

 regretting very much that I had not been 

 near at hand to assist Smith, when he 

 believed the result would have been 

 different. This conversation I thought 

 might be unpleasant for my friend so I 

 changed the subject by asking the shikari 

 to relate one of his tiger adventures, as I 

 made no doubt he had had some hair- 

 breadth escapes in his perilous profession. 

 He at once assented, but it seemed to us 

 that a sadness came over his face as of 

 some unhappy memory that our request 



