FOR YOUNG SHOOTERS 73 



his disappointment was very violent. But mark 

 the sequel. When we approached the pretty farm- 

 house in which our lunch w r as spread, there they 

 all were standing by the gate to welcome us. Not 

 a woman was absent. The headache had disap- 

 peared by magic, the Abbey ruins remained un- 

 sketched, and Sibyl Carr's innumerable friends 

 had to content themselves with very meagre 

 epistles. How could I have supposed for a moment 

 that the cheerers of our existence would stay 

 away from us. So vain are the well-intentioned 

 efforts of a mere man w r hen matched against the 

 deadly perseverance of woman. We lunched for 

 an hour and a quarter, and had to miss about the 

 best drive of the afternoon. Moreover, Jack Wing- 

 field shot execrably, and completely forfeited the 

 good opinion of Miss Watson who stood beside 

 him and talked to him about modern art criticism, 

 a subject of which he knows as much as his 

 retriever does about bicycling. It will be admitted 

 that I was not without my revenge. 



That evening our party was joined by Jones 

 Chifney. Who is there that does not know Jones 

 Chifney, ' Little Chif,' as we call him in our 

 more familiar moments ? Chif is tremendous at 



