WARWICK WOODLANDS. 167 



which now the red leaves hung few and sere, before old Shot 

 threw his nose high into the air, straightened his neck and his 

 stern, and struck out at a high trot ; the other setter evidently 

 knowing what he meant, though as yet he had not caught the 

 wind of them. In a moment they both stood steady ; and, al- 

 most at the same instant, Tom Draw's Dash, and A "s 



Grouse came to the point, all on different birds, in a bit of very 

 open ground, covered with wintergreen about knee deep, and 

 interspersed with only a few scattered bushes. 



Whir-r-r-r up they got all at once ! what a jostle what a 

 hubbub ! Bang ! bang ! crack ! bang ! crack ! bang ! Four bar- 

 rels exploded in an instant, almost simultaneously ; and two 

 sharp unmeaning cracks announced that, by some means or 

 other, Frank Forester's gun had missed fire with both barrels. 



" What the deuce is the matter, boys !" cried Harry, laugh- 

 ing, as he threw up his gun, after the hubbub had subsided, and 

 dropped two birds the only two that fell, for all that waste of 

 shot and powder. 



" What the deuce ails you ?" he repeated, no one replying, 

 and all hands looking bashful and crest-fallen. " Are you all 

 drunk ? or what is the matter ? I ask merely for information." 



" Upon my life ! I believe / am!" said Frank Forester. " For 

 I have not loaded my gun at all, since I killed those two last 

 snipe. And, when we got up from luncheon, I put on the caps 

 just as if all was right but all is right now," he added, for he 



had repaired his fault, and loaded, before A or fat Tom had 



done staring, each in the other's face, in blank astonishment. 



" Step up to Grouse, then," said Archer, who had never taken 

 his eye off the old brown pointer, while he was loading as fast 

 as he could. " He has got a bird, close under his nose ; and it 

 will get up, and steal away directly. That's a trick they will 

 play very often." 



" He haint got no bird," said Tom, sulkily. And Frank 

 paused doubtful. 



" Step up, I tell you, Frank," said Harry, " the old Turk's 

 savage ; that's all." 



And Frank did step up, close to the dog's nose ; and sent 

 his foot through the grass close under it. Still the dog stood 

 perfectly stiff; but no bird rose. 



" I telled you there warn't no quails there ;" growled Tom. 



"And I tell you there are !" answered Archer, more sharply 



