WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 123 



likely, to shoot a gentleman in his own house, 

 with bird-shot, so long as quails were to be had. 



" You have no business here : what are you 

 after ? " I repeated. 



" Looking for a lost hen," said the man as he 

 strode away. 



The reply was so satisfactory and conclusive 

 that I shut the blinds and went to bed. 



But one evening I overhauled one of the 

 poachers. Hearing his dog in the thicket, I 

 rushed through the brush, and came in sight 

 of the hunter as he was retreating down the 

 road. He came to a halt ; and we had some 

 conversation in a high key. Of course I threat- 

 ened to prosecute him. I believe that is the 

 thing to do in such cases ; but how I was to do 

 it, when I did not know his name or ancestry, 

 and could n't see his face, never occurred to me. 

 (I remember, now, that a farmer once proposed 

 to prosecute me when I was fishing in a trout- 



