CHAPTER II

1865-1870

He enters Rugby--Love of books of travel--Life at Rugby--Rugby football in the old days--"Butler's leap"--Excursions in Natural History--Adventures out of bounds--The Pilton Range episode--Raid on the Heronry at Coombe Abbey--A cold swim--Unjust treatment--Wanderings with the rifle--Chased by the keeper--Mr. Boughton Leigh's broad-mindedness--The ice accident at Regent's Park--The panic--A narrow escape--Canon Wilson's recollections of Selous as a schoolboy--"Williamson's" duck--Neuchâtel--Wiesbaden--His friend Colchester--A row with the forester--He flies to Salzburg--Butterfly collecting--Chamois hunting--The Franco-German War--Its unpopularity in Austria--His estimate of the German character--Visit to Vienna--Back in England 29