38 The Tetcott Hunt LUeek. 



a crippled ! " And his brother would say, " Why 

 ever don't 'e knack 'em right down at wonst." 



My father had, as he supposed, this one old keeper 

 only to take care of a wide tract of rough country 

 in mid Devon. But when, on his return from the 

 Crimean War, he, with some friends, visited this 

 part of a property, to which he had succeded whilst 

 still a young lieutenant, he found fifteen keepers 

 awaiting his arrival. Men that had been preserving 

 the game on their farms and small holdings for the 

 young squire. All were armed with '* brishers," 

 sticks about four feet long, on which, when standing 

 still, they usually leaned with arms crossed. All 

 these men had come to show the whereabouts of 

 coveys that " belanged " to their farms, and to see 

 the sport. 



The old keeper had at his heels, as companion, 

 retriever, and general servant, a little spaniel, which, 

 at a signal from its master, would go into the 

 thickest covert of brambles or furze, and run the 

 whole length of a blackthorn hedge, " Because," 

 said the old man, " I never told un a lie," meaning, 

 that he never put the dog into creep or " bushment " 

 unless there were signs that flax or feather had 

 recently passed in, or when there was wounded or 

 dead game to seek for. 



He was host of the inn where the shooting party 

 were to lodge, but his house was in a very quiet 



