FOR YOUNG SHOOTERS 95 



CHAPTEE XVI 



A MUSICAL HOST 



<DEAR ,' writes a valued correspondent, 'I 



wish you'd tip me the wink how I'm to talk to 

 my hosts. I'm a poor man, but not a poor shot. 

 So I get asked about a good deal to different places, 

 and as I'm not the sort that turns on the talking- 

 tap very easily, I often get stuck up. Just as I've 

 got fairly into the swim with one of them I leave 

 him, and have to think of talk for quite a different 

 kind of chap, and so on all through the season. 

 For instance, last December I did three shoots in 

 as many weeks. The first was with old Callaby, 

 the rich manufacturer, who's turned sportsman 

 late in life. I thought he'd like a talk about 

 bimetallism, so I sweated it up a bit, and started 

 off with a burst as soon as I got a look in. All no 

 go. Nothing would please him but to talk of birds, 

 and rabbits, and hares, and farming, and crops, 



