The Swallow 



CHAPTER V 



Birds in Authority 



I WAS on my way to the West of England, and from 

 Waterloo for about a hundred and twenty miles had 

 but one fellow-traveller in the carriage. A man of a 

 fine presence, about sixty; from his keen, alert eyes, 

 hard weathered face, and his dress I took him to be a 

 sportsman. He very soon let me know that he was one, 

 as great an enthusiast as one could meet; and as he 

 was companionable and we talked the whole time, I 

 got to know a good deal about him. Shooting and fish- 

 ing were his chief pleasures and interest in life: he had 

 followed both from his early years. In and out of Eng- 

 land. For the last ten or twelve years he had lived 

 at the antipodes, where he held an important position 

 in one of the colonies ; but somehow the sports he loved 



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