POACHING PARTRIDGES 73 



of all the short cuts. He knows, too, all the obstacles 

 that might impede a hasty flight. Sometimes he 

 turns his attention to farm lands bordering on large 

 towns ; more often he journeys further afield, making 

 mental notes of a practical character as a preparation 

 to the initiation of a fresh campaign. His arrange- 

 ments are often brought to a head in the parlour of 

 some innocent-looking public-house. The tastes of the 

 proprietor probably include a weakness for sport in 

 the abstract, and he acquiesces sympathetically in the 

 eccentricities of his patrons. Nor is this altogether 

 surprising, if we consider that a plump hare or a 

 brace of young partridges would form an acceptable 

 addition to his Sunday dinner. Indeed, we strongly 

 suspect that in his early days our host himself occa- 

 sionally figured in transactions of a dubious kind. A 

 hint of this may be found in the homely construc- 

 tion of the walking-stick gun which hangs from the 

 oaken beam in the kitchen ; while^if further proof be 

 needed, the adroitness with which our landlord takes 

 the weapon to pieces, and stows it in his capacious 

 pockets, argues something more than a chance ac- 

 quaintance with its mechanism. 



The task of marking down coveys of partridges is 

 often facilitated by a hint from some local worthy 

 who has a grudge to pay off against a discarded 



