THE LOVE-CHILD. 561 



stern behest I had received on the subject, he observed that it was 

 quite prudent for Farmer Belroy openly to discourage the destruction 

 of the privileged birds .which devoured one half of his crops, but that 

 the more of them I could wing on the sly, the better he would be 

 pleased. " Now," added Peter, ' ' do you be off to your berth, lad 

 Belroy won't ha' missed you, for I saw him start for Caddiscombe 

 market before the sun rose bide patiently in the field all day il 

 the pheasants should come down, don't pelt 'em keep quiet,and about 

 dusk I'll look in, and shew you some sport. As to the sixpence, 

 don't fret about that : look'ye, lad here's a shilling ; go to business, 

 and at dusk it shall be thine thee can'st lick Seth and his cousin at 

 thy leisure." 



I began to feel that, notwithstanding my recent calamity, I was ra- 

 pidly rising into importance. Blue Peter had talked of giving me a 

 shilling, and Lavolta had estimated me at no less than half a crown ! 

 that is, if I coul d replevy my sixpence from Seth and his assistants. 

 I had been unsuccessful to be sure, but that a bare possibility should 

 be held out to me of compassing the possession of such a sum, made 

 me feel big, and tempted by Peter's promise, I hurried off to my field. 

 There I found little Agnes weeping most bitterly. She had brought 

 my breakfast, but could'nt find me. In the innocence of her heart, 

 she had imputed my secession from office, to her non-attendance with 

 my meals. She begged to explain, with winning simplicity, that her 

 father, who rigidly prohibited her from holding any communication 

 with his servants, had, 011 discovering the fact of her bringing me 

 his scare-crow a dinner, locked her up for three days. She had, 

 however, taken the opportunity of his first absence from home, to 

 wheedle the servants in short, she had succeeded in bringing me my 

 breakfast. 



I had lots to tell her, and the forenoon passed very pleasantly, for 

 we blubbered in unison. About noon, the dairy-maid, whom I had 

 ventured to call Molly, but whose real name it appeared was Dolly, 

 arrived with my daily bacon and its accompaniments. She hurried 

 little Agnes off, protesting that there would be barely time enough 

 to get home and lock her up, before her father's return. Agnes, by 

 accident, left her blue waist-ribbon : and having no better strong box 

 in which to dispose, of the valuable, I stuffed it into the deserted nest 

 of a bush-magpie. 



Soon after sunset, the tarred and broad-brimmed straw hat of my 

 friend Blue Peter gleamed above the fence. In externals he was a 

 perfect antithesis to a poacher. On the questionable authority of 

 having performed a couple of voyages one to, and the other from 

 New South Wales, with an interval of seven years between them, Blue 

 Peter invariably wore the costume of a sailor. His trowsers were so 

 loose, that he could with perfect impunity bestow a hare in each leg. 

 On approaching the spot where I stood, he produced from beneath his 

 jacket a small canvas bag : this, as I speedily found, contained a little 

 half-bred cock, with a dull dun breast, belly, and back, a white tail 

 and flight, copper-coloured hackles, and a brilliant rosette to match 

 on each wing. H s eye, beak, and legs were all intensely black. 

 Blue Peter kept him constantly in complete fighting trim, but not with 



M.M.No.89. 3S 



