Z RAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



can be — and in a few minutes we had managed to get 

 into a good-sized hamper a Dutcli cheese, half a ham, a 

 small bottle of anchovies, (N.B. Brother campaigners, 

 never forget that) three cap-boxes of salt, pepper, and 

 cloves, and a gingerbeer bottle filled with a judiciously- 

 mixed compound of the best olive oil, Worcester sauce, 

 and malt vinegar. On each flank was stowed a flat 

 oblong stone jug of " mountain dew^' that I am prepared 

 to take my solemn davy had never paid the tax — bad cess 

 to it ! Like the renowned " Colonel,'^ I don^t believe in 

 making oneself uncomfortable needlessly, and I certainly 

 believe that " how to cater^^ is at all events the second 

 qualification for a sportsman. I once made a trip to 

 "Norway without any preparation whatever in the way of 

 eatables, and I had the "roughest old time^' possible. 

 Since then I have eaten shark, parrot, monkey, mule, and 

 a variety of other '^ foreign bills of fare,^' but (thank 

 Crosse and Blackwell and the Colonel) always "con- 

 dimented.'^ (N.B. Here I beg leave to say to the young 

 sportsman, and, for the matter of that, to the old one too, 

 get Hawker^s book on shooting, and study it by the mid- 

 night oil — it^s worth the money.) I remember once, in 

 Honduras, making a peculiarly relishing meal ofi" macaw, 

 anchovies, grated yam, and Worcester sauce ; I know 

 two railway- engine drivers declared it was the " highest 

 kind of grub'^ they had had for a long time. But to 

 return to my Poole journey ; after a ten-mile drive along 

 the level turnpike road, I found myself and efi'ects 



deposited at the door of the Inn, kept by the best of 



hostesses, who, if she is alive now, ought to have made 

 her fortune and retired. Alas ! I suppose she^s dead, 

 like all the rest of them — all good people die off, some- 

 how. 



