CHAPTER XL 



PONTINE MARSHES. 



HAVING made up a party to go and shoot in the 

 Pontine Marshes, the yellow coach was put into re- 

 quisition, and I and five more in due course arrived 

 at Torri tres Ponti, which was but a sorry kind of 

 road-side inn, and, of course, standing in a marsh, 

 or at least a very humid position. We had taken 

 plenty of things to eat and drink, and cigars and 

 tobacco to any amount, for we had heard all kinds 

 of stories about malaria, Roman fever, and such-like 

 maladies, and smoking a good deal, and brandy-and- 

 water, and such innocent stimulants, are said to be 

 great, if not pleasant, antidotes. We took powder and 

 shot enough to blow a town up with, and were 

 bent upon doing great things in the snipe and 

 wildfowl line. 



I shall never forget our first expedition against 



