MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR XXXili 
was an excellent shot, and always used an old pin- 
fire gun until five or six years before his death. He 
had had the pin-fire since he was a boy, and had 
used it so much that it was positively dangerous. 
He swore by black powder and number six shot, and 
the noise the gun made when it went off was astound- 
ing. Smoke came out all along the barrels (for there 
were positively holes that you could almost push a 
pin in down the barrels) and the reverberation was 
as thunder. If they were shooting the adjacent coverts 
one knew for miles around when “the Rector’’ was 
ina hot corner—it was something like the guns at 
Landguard Fort. He was induced one day to order 
a new gun, and he was extremely pleased with the 
hammerless ejector gun that he got, and came to 
prefer smokeless powders to the old black. He had 
many good stories to tell about his shooting experi- 
ences, as, indeed, he had about everything else. He 
was once shooting with a certain baronet, who was 
also a distinguished colonial administrator. Included 
in the shooting party was a bishop. The bishop was 
not supposed to have had much experience of shoot- 
ing, and the keeper had been specially instructed to 
attend on the bishop and see that he shot—in the 
right direction. The keeper, having a great respect 
for rank and not having met a bishop before, was 
sorely puzzled how to address him should occasion 
arise. When the day’s shoot was over, he confided 
his trouble to his master. ‘‘ You see, Sir Edward,’’ 
he said, ‘‘ Dukes I know, and Hearls and sichlike”’ 
(Sir Edward being evidently, in his keeper’s estima- 
tion, a ‘‘sichlike!’’), ‘‘ but I was wholly stammed 
by the bishop.” ‘‘ Well,” said Sir Edward, ‘‘ what 
did you say to him?” ‘‘ Well, Sir,” replied the 
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