298 



of tbe 1Rofc, IRifle, anfc (Bun 



many of them far older than himself, round him, and 

 keep them fascinated by his wonderful powers as a 

 raconteur. Above all, he was a born sportsman, and 

 his proficiency as a fisherman when he was yet in his 

 teens excited the amazement and envy of his school- 

 fellows. 



" I have known him," says one of his boyish friends, 

 "catch grey mullet at Penzance Pier when none of us 

 could succeed. The mullet is a very difficult fish to 

 hook, on account of the diminutive size of its mouth ; 

 but Davy adopted a plan of his own contrivance. 

 Observing that they always swam in shoals, he attached 

 a succession of pilchards to a string, reaching from the 

 surface to the bottom of the sea, and while his prey were 

 swimming around the bait, he would by a sudden move- 

 ment of the string entangle several of them on the hooks 

 and thus dexterously capture them." 



As soon, however, as he was old enough to handle 

 a gun, shooting rivalled fishing in his affections. Before 

 he was fourteen he had made a collection of rare birds, 

 all shot and stuffed by himself. The marshes around 

 Penzance abounded with snipe, and woodcock were 

 plentiful in the coverts. No licence was required for 

 shooting them, so young Humphry had rare sport of a 

 kind which, in the opinion of many good sportsmen, 

 has no superior. Accompanied by his favourite water- 

 spaniel Chloe, the wood-carver's son, with his gun on 

 his shoulder, was a familiar figure to the people of 

 Penzance, who never dreamed that a youth so devoted 

 to the pleasures of rod and gun could ever develop 

 into a man with any serious pursuits. Nor did his 



