80 WARWICK WOODLANDS, 



forty-five yards distant, among a growth of thick-set saplings 

 the hardest shot, in my opinion, that can be selected to test a 

 quick and steady sportsman. I gave it him, and down he came 

 too killed dead that I knew, for I had shot full half a yard 

 before him. Just as I dropped my butt to load, the hill began 

 to echo with the vociferous yells of master Dan, the quick 

 redoubled cracks of Harry's heavy dog-whip, and his incessant 

 rating " Down, cha-arge ! For sha-ame ! Dan ! Dan ! down 

 cha-arge ! for sha-ame !" broken at times by the impatient 

 oaths of Tom Draw, in the gulley, who had, it seems, knocked 

 down two woodcock, neither of which he could bag, owing to 

 the depth and instability of the wet bog. 



" Quit ! quit ! cuss you, quit there, leatherin that brute ! 

 Quit, I say, or I'll send a shot at you ! Gome here, Archer I 

 say, come here ! there be the darndest lot of droppins here, I 

 ever see full twenty cock, I swon !" 



But still the scourge continued to resound, and still the 

 raving of the spaniel excited Tom's hot ire. 



" Frank Forester !" exclaimed he once again. " Do see now 

 Harry missed them partridge, and so he licks the poor dumb 

 brute for it. I wish I were a spannel, and he'd try it on with 

 me !" 



" I will, too/' answered Archer, with a laugh ; " I will, too, 

 if you wish it, though you are not a spaniel, nor any thing else 

 half so good. And why, pray, should I not scourge this wild 

 little imp ? he ran slap into the best pack of ruffed grouse I 

 have seen this two years fifteen or sixteen birds^ I wonder 

 they're not scattered it's full late to find them packed 1" 



" Did you kill ere a one ?" Tom holloaed ; " not one, either 

 of you !" 



" I did," answered Harry, " I nailed the old cock bird, and a 

 rare dog he is ! two pounds, good weight, I warrant him/' he 

 added, weighing him as he spoke. " Look at the crimson round 

 his eye, Frank, like a cock pheasant's, and his black ruff or 

 tippet by George! but he's a beauty! And what did you 

 do ?" he continued. 



" I bagged a brace the only two that crossed me." 



" Did you, though ?" exclaimed Archer, with no small expres- 

 sion of surprise ; " did you, though ? that's prime work it 

 takes a thorough workman to bag a double shot upon October 

 grouse. But come, we must go down to Tom ; hark how the 

 old hound keeps bawling." 



