A SHOOTING LODGE 201 



altogether, should the practical romancers, who draw 

 the prospectus of the proposed railway, get to sight or 

 hearing of the waterfall that at present roars out of 

 earshot of all but heedless shepherds, or learn that 

 there are sculptured stones in the lowly graveyard 

 attached to the ruined chapel by the holy well. 

 Meanwhile, let us live in the present, and be thankful. 

 After us the deluge ; and it will be all the same when 

 grouse have been proscribed and game-laws abolished ; 

 when the English Commune has enclosed the commons 

 in the name of the people, and reclaimed the moors to 

 the profit of the proletariat. 



In keeping with the rough shooting, the shooting- 

 box is a rough one. No sacrifices made to the soft, and 

 few, indeed, to the beautiful. With its low, flat roof, 

 it cowers down out of the way of the elements that 

 sweep the gorge in winter and sometimes in summer 

 too as if the wild huntsman was racing his devil-bred 

 pack through the chimneys. Chimney-pots there are 

 none, of course. In the days when occupants held to 

 these vanities, they used to set down the valley in a 

 steady rush, to be picked up by wreckers lower down, 

 as driftwood is swept round the Bay of Mexico on the 

 Gulf Stream. Yet, though it bows its head, it squares 

 its broad shoulders and sturdy strength, like a man 

 who jams down his hat ere he sets his teeth to the 

 tempest. It wears a waterproof against the wind-driven 

 flood ; and, although there are two good feet of stone 

 in the weather-wall, it is cased carefully in tight-fitting 

 pine-shingles. Within, a relatively spacious hall that 



