A Sportsman 155 



a cry of sorrow and disappointment that made Twing 

 ver>' unhappy. He had cut up the trout in squares 

 like dice, and while frying them in the large camp 

 saucepan over the open fire, the fat had ignited and 

 before being extinguished gave a charcoal hue to 

 the squares which was far from appetizing in appear- 

 ance or taste. This led to a raillery on the subject 

 which completed Twing's discomfiture so much that 

 he soon sought the retirement of his soft bed on the 

 fragmentary' sticks which were laid over the damp 

 ground for resting upon. 



Our extemporized camp for the night, owing to the 

 scarcity of material, was of a sparse character, better 

 calculated on top for a survey of the skies than pro- 

 tection in case of rain, but the night was clear though 

 ver>- cold, and our supply of dry wood was too limited 

 to last satisfactorily through the night, compelling a 

 forage for more toward morning. A little incident 

 occurred which still further afifected the situation. 



Twing, retiring earlier than the rest, commenced a 

 nasal serenade of an amusing character, at which 

 Daland, a persistent joker, tied a few of our emptied tin 

 cans on the end of a stick and thrust them over Twing's 

 head from the rear of the camp. Jingling these tins 

 at a merry rate soon aroused Twing who, tired and 

 irritated at the intrusion, threatened to pull down the 

 whole camp if he were disturbed again in the same 

 manner. In a short time he was off again on the 

 musical tour, and Daland applied again the counter- 

 irritant. Twing was as good as his word and, rising 

 in his might as Samson of old at the pillars of the 

 temple, upheaved the supports and we were campless 

 in a twinkling. It was little loss, however, and we 



