262 FRANK FORESTER'S FIELD SPOUTS. 



" No. I could not, with certainty. But I think they dropped 

 in that bog-meadow, near yon pine tree." 



" No, AgiHs, you did not cast your eye forward sufficiently 

 in watching them, as they skimmed low over the ground before 

 the wind. They went four hundred yards farther, and are down 

 in that thicket, with the willows at this end." 



" Aye ! you have a keen eye, Peritus. Well, let us follow 

 them at once." 



" Practice is more than keenness of sight, in marking. But 

 we will by no means follow them at once. We must find seve- 

 ral other bevies, and drive them, if possible, the same way " 



" Must we, — that seems strange." 



" Yes. I will tell you about it at luncheon time ; but now 

 come on. The dogs are reading another bevy. Look forward 

 beyond tlie crag there, by the cedars." 



But Peritus was in error ; it was not another bevy, but a 

 Ruffed trrouse, which rose a moment afterward with a loud 

 whin-ing, out of a brake, and was cut down handsomely by the 

 older sportsman, after being missed by Agilis ; who, fluttered by 

 the noise, shot a little too quickly at him. 



Five minutes afterward the black Setter stood suddenly and 

 dead, in a dry maize-stubble, before Agilis, and a moment later 

 Sancho drew, and came to a doubtful point in an opposite direc- 

 tion, without seeing his companion. 



" Look alive, Agilis ; that is either a Cock or a Hare before 

 you, and Sancho is upon a running bevy." 



It was, sure enough, a Hare ; which bounced up instantly out 

 of its form, among some long grass and weeds in the maize- 

 stubble, and was tumbled over before it had run many yards, 

 by Agilis. At the report the bevy of Quail rose wild, and at a 

 long distance ; which did not, however, hinder Peritus from drop- 

 ping one, killed clean at fifty yards, or upward. 



" A long shot, and a good one !" said Agilis. 

 - " It was an Eley's cartridge. Loose shot would scarce have 

 stopped him. Those birds have gone into the saplings on the 

 hill-side, and they, I doubt not, are full of Woodcock. We are 

 sure of sport now." 



