14 SHOOTING AND SALMON FISHING 



went to the forest and killed two stags, so that clearly there 

 was nothing much to bother about. The whole " baker's 

 dozen " are still carried about with us, and no annoyance is ever 

 experienced from them, and whenever shots are buried deep in 

 the flesh, as long as no inconvenience is caused, they should 

 not be disturbed. A lump of tobacco placed on a shot wound 

 or some wool plucked off a coat and poked into it will usually 

 stop any ordinary case of bleeding. 



When walking in line and the beat has narrowed so as to 

 force the guns to be only about twenty yards apart, one is often 

 assailed, as a bird rises, with a noisy "Why didn't you shoot.'' 

 I waited ever so long for you ! " the querist having just smothered 

 a partridge not fifteen yards right in front of you, and which 

 by all the laws of the field was strictly your very own to have 

 first fire at. 



With a neighbour like this, it is best to put the gun under 

 one's arm and merely say, "It is of no use our both shooting 

 at the same bird." The kill, such as it was, has pleased the 

 duffer, and a good man can afford to laugh at being robbed of 

 a few shots. 



When, however, that sort of thing is likely to continue all 

 day, it is difficult to know what to advise. If between two 

 such guns, neither of them knowing their own birds (or that it 

 is the accepted rule for the man nearest to whom the bird rises 

 to have first fire), it is best to try and get shifted from your 

 place in the line, which now and then may be accomplished 

 by a mild ruse. 



When the time comes to make a wheel, stop to light a pipe 

 or fasten a boot lace, and thus get left in rear of the line, and 

 in order to save time in waiting for your position to be re- 

 gained, the host will often cry to you to fall in by a short cut, 

 and thus at one coup both the two attentive friends may be got 

 rid of 



Exasperated at this happy-go-lucky style of shooting, we 

 have at times seen good men knock over ground game only a 



