WET, WEARY, AND FATIGUED. 265 



In Central Illinois, a thousand miles or more from the 

 scene of my last mishap, I have had wonderful mallard- 

 shooting, so will attempt to describe one of my fortunate 

 essays on a November evening. The wind was eminently 

 suited for the purpose of exhibiting a large show of birds; 

 it being dark, stormy, and threatening, with a rapid de- 

 crease in the temperature, strongly indicative of frost or 

 snow. In truth, if I had made a selection, I could scarcely 

 have chosen better adapted weather. After a tiresome and 

 nn profitable day, we found ourselves back at the requisite 

 station, wet, weary, and fatigued, and not by any means in 

 the best of spirits ; still, I did not wish to be the proposer 

 of an adjournment of my promised exhibition, and my 

 friend felt placed upon his mettle, lest he should appear to 

 suffer more from his long tramp than myself, or indicate 

 less capacity for enduring the fatigues of the hunting-field. 

 How often, if we could read one another's internal feelings, 

 should we find that external appearances are only assumed, 

 and that the companion who ostensibly looks as fresh and 

 capable of traveling for hours as he was at the time of 

 starting, is suffering from extreme lassitude and disinclina- 

 tion to more exertion, only he is restrained from confessing 

 his weakness by a certain amour propre, and repugnance 

 to acknowledge himself beaten ; at least, I speak from my 

 own experience, and I believe that the majority of men are 

 similarly constituted. If men would but give the same at- 

 tention, the same pertinacious assiduity to business affairs 

 that are bestowed by its devotees on field-sports, it can not 

 be doubted that their fortune in amassing wealth would be 

 equal to their success in filling game-bags. 



As the sun dipped in the western horizon, or as near 

 as possible to that time murky, dark, threatening clouds 

 preventing the sun from being seen we entered the wet, 

 marshy margin which bounded our future scene of opera- 



12 



