272 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
nymph-like cascade, completed our arrangement; and, after 
haying laved our heated brows and hands, begrimed with gun¬ 
powder, and stained with the red witness of volucrine slaughter, 
stretched on the cool granite floor, and sheltered from the fierce 
rays of the summer sun by the dark foliage of the oak—we 
feasted, happier and more content with our frugal fare, than the 
most lordly epicure that ever strove to stimulate his appetite to 
the appreciation of fresh luxuries. 
“ Well, Harry,” exclaimed I, when I was satiate with food, 
and while, having already quaffed two moderate horns, I was 
engaged in emptying, alas ! the last remaining drops of whisky 
into the silver cup, sparkling with pure cold water—“ Well, 
Harry, the spring is fresh, and cold, and tasteless, as any water 
I ever did taste ! Pity it were not situate in some Faun-haunted 
glen of green Arcadia, or some sweet flower-enamelled dell of 
merry England, that it might have a meeter legend for roman¬ 
tic ears than your Bear story—some minstrel dream of Dryad, 
or Oread, or of Dian’s train, mortal-wooed!—some frolic tale 
of Oberon and his blithe Titania !—or, stranger yet, some thrill¬ 
ing and disastrous lay, after the German school, of woman wail¬ 
ing for her demon lover! But, sith it may not be, let’s have the 
Bear.” 
“ Well, then,” replied that worthy, “ first, as you must know, 
the hero of my tale is—alas ! that I must say was, rather—a bro¬ 
ther of Tom Draw, than whom no braver nor more honest man, 
no warmer friend, no keener sportsman, ever departed to his 
long last home, dewed by the tears of all who knew him. He 
was —but it boots not to weave long reminiscences—you know 
the brother who still survives ; and, knowing him, you have the 
veritable picture of the defunct, as regards soul, I mean, and 
spirit—for he was not a mountain in the flesh, but a man only_ 
and a stout and good one—as, even more than my assertion, 
my now forthcoming tale will testify. It was the very first 
winter 1 had passed in the United States, that I was staying up 
here, for the first time likewise. I had, of course, become 
speedily intimate with Tom, with whom, indeed, it needs no 
