Sporting Sketches in Pen and Pencil. 



"Thank ye, sir," said Eipps with a grin and mock politeness, as he 

 pocketed the coveted prize. " You ain't got no more o' them as you want's 

 my 'elp with, has yer? No; I 'spec's I've 'ad the lot now. Mornin', 

 Muster Johnson. Pity's ye 'adn't let me know's you was goin' to shoot 

 to-day, I mout 'a helped ye a lot more. Howsomever, better late than 

 never, as you says." 



" You be !" said Johnson, sullenly. 



"Thank'ye, but not afore you, sir, not afore you. You always was 

 civil, and I'm obligated; but I wouldn't come afore my betters if I 

 knows it." 



Here Raymond broke in. " You poaching blackguard ; if you'U only 

 come tliis side of the ditch, I'll give you such a jacketing as you haven't 

 had for one wliile." 



" Will 'ee, now ! I've a darn good mind to take 'ee at .ye're word. 

 Howsomever, we'U talk about that another day. Meanwhiles you hain't 

 got no more o' them ten-pun notes to spare, have you? Don't want 

 to spekilate in buckwheat ? No ? Well, never mind, then ; but don't let 

 me spile your sport, sir; pray goo on;" and he turned away, having 

 chaffed us all round, and had all the best of it too, as Raymond was forced 

 to admit. 



Whether it was the excitement, or what, I don't know, but neither 

 Raymond nor I could shoot a bit after that. Several birds and a hare 

 or too went Fippsward, and every now and then that single barrel spoke 

 out like a warning trumpet, and carried dismay beneath our waistcoats. 

 We shot quick and fired all our barrels, and wasted no end of cartridges. 

 We tried to be deliberate, and shot slow. All wouldn't do; we were 

 either behind or before, and rarely between. Fipps got a regular bumper, 

 and scored all the honours. Exasperation could no further go, and Eipps 

 was cursed after the fashion employed by the cardinal in the " Jackdaw of 

 Rheims"; but, likcthe audience there, he didn't seem "a penny the worse." 



The others did pretty well, and we finished off with a decent bag 

 enough — twenty-one brace of pheasants, a leash of birds, a dozen hares, 

 a score and a half of bxmnies, half a dozen wood pigeons, and a jay 

 which I potted for fly-making requisites. 



