44 LYCIG GUARD. 



« Hallo, Jim. What's that, you've killed ?" 



" Gun broke. Why, you must have overloaded it !" 



" When'U you go hunting again ?— 'case I want to go too !" 



" Poor Jim ! Shoot grass, kill horse, break gun ! Wat in da wor 

 iocs him mean !" 



" Never mind, Jim. Don't be akeered at the«e fellovirs. It takes you 

 to play the devil and break things !" 



Towards niglit, several bufF^o bulls having made their appearaiice, out 

 hunter, mounting a horse, staited for the chase, and in a brief interval, re- 

 turned laden wi3i a supply of meat. Camp had already been struck, and 

 preparations for the new item of fare were under speedy headway. 



The beef proved miserably poor ; but when cooked, indiiferent as it was 

 I imagined it the best I had ever tasted. So keen was my relish, it 

 eeemed impossible to get enough. Bach of us devourcil an enormous 

 quantity for supper, — and not content with that, several forsook their beds 

 during the night to renew the feast, — as though they had been actually 

 starving for a month. 



The greediness of the '• greenhorns," was the prolific source of amuse- 

 ment to our voyageurs, who made the night-air resound with laughter at 

 the avidity with which the unsopliisticated ones " walked into the affections 

 of the old bull," as they expressed it. " Keep on your Ijelts till we get 

 among cows," said they, "then let out a notch or two, and take a f uU 

 meal." 



It was equally amusing to me, and rather disgusting withal, to see the 

 " old birds," as they called themselves, dispose of the only liver brought in 

 camp. Instead of boiling, frying, or roasting it, they laid hold of it raw, 

 and, sopping it mouthful oy mouthful in gall, swallowed it with sui-prising 

 gusto. 



This strange proceeding was at first altogether incoraprehensiWe, but, 

 ere the reader shall have followed me through all my adventures in the 

 wilds of the great West, he will find me to have obtained a fuU knowledge 

 of its several merits. 



The beef of the male buflalo at tliis season of the year, is poorer than 

 at any other. From April till the first of June, it attains its prune, in 

 point of excellence. In July and August, these animals prosecute their 

 knight-errantic campaign, and, between running, fighting and gallantry, 

 find little time to graze, finally emerging from the contested field, witli 

 hides well gor^d, and scarcely flesh enough upon their bones to make a 

 decent shadow. 



It is nowise marvellous, then, that our lavish appropriation of buU- 

 laeat at this time, when it is unprecedentedly tough, strong-tasted, and 

 poor, should excite the mirth of our better-informed beholders. 



The night was a cold one, and claimed for it Big Jim as second guard 

 When called for "relieve," with a borrowed gun, he commenced his 

 rounds, — but the cold soon drove him to the camp-fire. 



Here, weariness and the somnific effects of a generous heat, ipeedilj 

 found him stretched at full len^h towards the fire,iaoring aw&y at a toona 

 nit«, the Ba1»j«et of thsir ooinlii>ed iniudacc. 



