A CHRISTMAS SHOOT IN ARDENNES 109 



dence of our host. Here I found a cheery party 

 assembled, and intent upon a variety of '* short " 

 drinks suitable to the day. Most of them were 

 dressed in grey or green coats, with their trousers 

 tucked into antigropelos or high boots. Several wore 

 blouses, a dress which does not mark the peasant in 

 Luxemburg. Nearly all carried 16-bore guns, many 

 of them pin-fires. An odd part, to the English eye, 

 of their equipment was muffs. I have long since 

 got used to these, and often longed for one — and the 

 moral courage to wear it. Only those who have to 

 spend long days in the snow, waiting for big game 

 to be driven, can properly appreciate the comfort 

 of such a thing. It hangs from a cord round the 

 neck, and the hands can be at once withdrawn 

 to grasp the gun, which, of course, is slung on the 

 shoulder. 



However, I hadn't one, and had to turn out into 

 the cold without it. We made an early start, as is 

 the invariable rule on the Continent. Our first posts 

 were midway in a covert which was a strip on a high 

 bank overhanging the high-road, river, and railway, 

 which here run together. We were told we might 

 fire at anything here, as we should not disturb the 

 main coverts. 



*' Tre^," said an old chap, to whom our host had 

 delegated the posting of the guns, pointing to the slot 

 of a couple in the snow just where he had posted me. 

 Roe were a novelty to me then, and I should have 

 been glad of a shot at one, but this time it was not 

 to be, for my gun was clean when the beaters reached 

 me. A gun near me had a roe, and another had 

 bagged a fox sneaking along the very steep side of 

 the cutting above the road. 



