TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK 



. THE SPORTSMAN'S SPREAD. 



The long cold winter had passed away and been succeed- 

 ed by the usual alternations of damp sloppy thaws, and 

 piercing eastern gales, which constitute a North American 

 Spring; and now the croaking of the bvill-frogs, heard 

 from every pool and puddle, the bursting buds of the 

 young willows, and, above all, the appearance of Shad 

 in market, announced to the experienced sportsman, the 

 arrival of the English Snipe upon the marshes. For some 

 days Harry Archer had been busily employed in overhaul- 

 ing his shooting apparatus, exercising his setters, watch- 

 ing every change of wind, and threatening a speedy ex- 

 pedition into the meadows of New Jersey, so soon as three 

 days of easterly rain should be followed by mild weather 

 from the southward. Anxiously looked for, and long de- 

 sired, at last the eastern storm set in, cold, chilling, misty, 

 with showers of smoky driving rain, and Harry for two 

 entire days had rubbed his hands in ecstacy; while Tim- 

 othy stood ever in the stable door — his fists plunged deep 

 in the recesses of his breeches' pockets, and a queer smile 

 illuminating the honest ugliness of his bluH visage — pa- 

 tiently watching for a break in the dull clouds — his har- 

 ness hanging the while in readiness for instant use, with 

 every crest and turret as bright as burnished gold; his 

 wagon all prepared, with bear-skins and top-coats dis- 

 played ; and his own kit packed up in prompt anticipation 

 of the first auspicious moment. The third dark morning 

 had dawned dingily; the rain still drifted noiselessly 

 against the windows, while gutters overflowed, and ken- 

 nels swollen into torrents announced its volume and dura- 

 tion. There was not then the least temptation to stir out 

 of doors, and, sulky myself, I was employed in coaxing 

 a sulky cigar beside a yet more sulky fire, with an empty 



