Buda Pest to this place. I am afraid the postmaster
will never hear the name of an Englishman without associating the idea
of a fussy, irritable, impatient being, such as I was, about my guns. Of
course it was very provoking that they had not arrived. This postmaster
was a pattern official, an honour to his calling; he not only bore with
me, but he offered to lend me a gun if mine did not come. In Germany
there is a saying, "_So grob wie ein postbeamter_." The postmaster of
Karansebes was a glorious exception to the rule.

On one occasion, while I was waiting in the office for an answer to one
of the many telegrams that I had despatched, a peasant woman came in
with a letter without an address. The postmaster seeing this, and
thinking she could not write, asked her to whom he should address the
letter. She was dreadfully indignant with him for his well-meant offer,
and said, "My son knows all about it--it is no business of yours."

"But I can't forward it without an address," objected the postmaster.

"Yes, you must," she rejoined, getting more and more angry--"you must;
that's what you are paid for doing."

Here some other people came to the rescue, and by dint of all talking at
once for full twenty minutes, they induced her to give her son's
address; but it was a clear case of "convinced against her will," for as
she quitted the office she turned round and said, with a shake of the
head, "It's all very well to put that; but my son will know who it is
from."

Karansebes is not at all a bad place as headquarters for the sportsman.
In the neighbourhood there is very good snipe-shooting in spring and
autumn. The fishing too is excellent for trout and grayling. The bear,
the wolf, and the chamois are to be met with on the heights, which form
this portion of the great horseshoe of the Carpathians.

The day before our expedition we were occupied with a few necessary
preparations. When these matters were settled to our satisfaction, we
went off in good time to secure a few hours' sleep, as we were to start
at four A.M.

F---- and I were up in capital time, eager for the day's work, and
anxious, moreover, not to keep the rest of the party waiting. There was
an Austrian general, however, amongst the number, and therefore we might
safely have slept another hour. The morning was very unpromising, the
rain descended in a dull persistent downpour. We tried to hope it was
the pride of the morning. The prospect was dreary eno