292 ACCIDENTS IN COCK-SHOOTING 



ly sufficient for shooting the different woods ; and then the 

 same distance must be again traversed, for which the shooter 

 will be a borrower from the night. Then he must reckon on 

 divers delays and sundry accidents ; horses will come down, 

 dog-carts capsize, a trace break, or a spring fail ; and what 

 has annoyed me more than all together, probably a fog rise 

 so suddenly and densely, as to render the road undistinguish- 

 able from the surrounding heaths. But when all this is 

 achieved, when a cover-party have fairly encircled the table, 

 after the luxury of a complete toilet, when the fire sparkles, 

 the curtains are drawn, and the wine circulates, why then, 

 without let the storm blow till it bursts its cheeks and within, 

 Father Care may hang himself in his own garters. 



There are others perils, also, to which the cover-shooter is 

 obnoxious. The eye is sometimes endangered by pressing 

 unguardedly through the copse wood ; and I knew one case 

 where the sight was totally lost from a twig springing from a 

 person who was struggling through the underwood and strik- 

 ing the next who followed. The legs also are frequently and 

 severely wounded by the sharp stumps which remain after a 

 thicket has been thinned. But frbm random shots the chief 

 danger arises ; and to prevent accidents occurring, a party, 

 and particularly if it be numerous, should be guarded in select- 

 ing their stands and altering their positions. I have been 

 struck a dozen times, but never with any worse effect than 

 receiving a shot or two in my cheek and ear ; but many a time 

 I have felt a shower rattle against my fustian jacket, which, 

 however, endured it bravely, as a garment of proof should 

 do. 



Some men, from carelessness or stupidity, are really a 

 nuisance to a cover-party ; and to others, one would almost 

 ascribe a fatality, and avoid them like an evil genius. In the 

 former case, I have found, after remonstrance failed, and 

 they continued throwing their shot liberally around, without 

 apparently caring one farthing upon whose person it alighted, 

 the best cure was instantly to turn a barrel as nearly in the 

 direction of the report as possible. A well-distributed charge 

 rattling through the brush wood, and falling upon the delin- 

 quent, gave, practically, a hint that made him more cautious 

 for the future, and proved more effective than the most power- 

 ful jobation. Of the latter class I mean unlucky companions 

 I shall particularize one. Captain M shot with me an 



